Urban Ark – Manawa Taiao
  • About us
    • Our vision
    • Our plan
    • Our partners and supporters
    • Our trust board
  • Support us
  • Contact
  • Get Involved
    • Join a group
    • Trap rats, possums and more
    • Remove weeds
    • Plant natives
    • Make your garden native-friendly
    • Other ways you can help
  • Biodiversity
    • Birds
    • Bats
    • Skinks and geckos
    • Butterflies and moths
    • Invertebrates
    • Landscapes
  • Resources
    • The Workshop
    • Tool library
    • Trapping resources
    • Promotional resources
    • Pest monitoring
    • Being a good citizen
    • Seeking funding
    • Cats
    • Dogs
    • Schools
    • Businesses
    • Health & Safety
  • News
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  1. Home
  2. Get Involved
  3. Remove weeds

Pest Plants

Many of the weedy species that are invading and damaging our natural areas are ornamental plants that have ‘jumped the fence’ from gardens and gone wild. It costs councils, government departments and private landowners millions of dollars, and volunteers and community groups thousands of unpaid hours, to control these weeds every year.

If left to grow they smother native bush, take over back yards and de-stabilise our native ecology. They can also harbour rats and some can be a health issue for us. Are these pest weeds taking over your backyard or neighbourhood? It’s time to flush ‘em out! Actually spring and autumn are best, but NOW is always better than NEVER.

Auckland Council’s Proposed Regional Pest Management Plan may soon require people in some areas to remove defined pest plants from their property. Urban Ark wants to take the lead and start freeing neighbourhoods of invasive pest plants right away. Talk to your neighbours about getting a team together to clear your street of our worst offenders (see below). Your local group may already be keen weeders, and if not you could start their weed removal wing. Check out our main weeding groups below.

Recognise

Learn how to identify pest plants. There are lots of resources both here and on the web.

  • If you think you know what it is, search for it on Auckland Council’s Pest Plant Search page.
  • Consult the Forest & Bird Weed Control Guide
  • use the iNaturalist app to tap into the knowledge of specialists
  • Visit the weed specialists, Weedbusters
  • Take the Weedbusters’ Weed Quiz. And then do it again. You’ll be a weed expert in no time!

Our worst offenders

Check out advice on the worst offenders (mostly from Auckland Council):

  • Blue Morning Glory
  • Bushy Asparagus
  • Climbing Asparagus
  • Moth Plant
  • Rhamnus (Evergreen Buckthorn)
  • Tradescantia (Wandering Willie)
  • Veldt Grass
  • Wild Ginger
  • Woolly Nightshade (Tobacco Weed, Flannel Leaf)

Weeding groups

Some of our groups have a particular focus on weeding and native planting. Click on the following links to join their efforts:

  • Friends of Oakley Creek Te Auaunga work along central Auckland’s longest stream from Mt Roskill down to the mouth at Waterview.
  • STEPS operates along Waitītko / Meola Creek from the slopes of Ōwairaka / Mt Albert to the sea at Te Tokaroa / Meola Reef.
  • Forest & Bird Auckland Central are weeding and planting in Bullock Track Bush beside Western Springs Stadium.
  • Friends of Maungawhau plant and weed on the slopes of Maungawhau / Mt Eden.
  • Oakley Loop Group are restoring a bend in Te Auaunga / Oakley Creek near the southern entrance to Waterview Tunnel.

In this section

  • Get Involved
    • Join a group
      • Forest & Bird Bullock Track Bush
      • Friends of Maungawhau
      • Friends of Oakley Creek Te Auaunga
      • Jaggers Bush Restoration Group
      • Kingsland Eco-neighbourhood
      • Lemington Reserve Restoration Group
      • Lower Waitītko groups
      • Oakley Loop Group
      • Pest Free Gladstone
      • Pest Free Lamps
      • Pest Free Maungawhau
      • Pest Free Ōwairaka
      • Pest Free Pt Chevalier
      • Pest Free Sandringham
      • Pest Free Waterview
      • Predator Free Grey Lynn
      • Predator Free Morningside / Western Springs
      • Predator Free Ponsonby
      • Predator Free West Lynn
      • Predator Free Westmere / Kaiwhakahaere
      • STEPS
      • Urban Ark – Manawa Taiao
      • Wellparkers
    • Trap rats, possums and more
      • Rats
      • Possums
      • Stoats
      • Hedgehogs
      • Wasps
    • Remove weeds
    • Plant natives
    • Make your garden native-friendly
    • Other ways you can help
  • Find us on Facebook
  • Subscribe to our newsletter

© Urban Ark – Manawa Taiao 2021

Photo credits: Bartek Wyptch (grey warbler)

Urban Ark – Manawa Taiao logo: Glenn Jones

Website by RS

  • Get Involved
    • Join a group
      • Forest & Bird Bullock Track Bush
      • Friends of Maungawhau
      • Friends of Oakley Creek Te Auaunga
      • Jaggers Bush Restoration Group
      • Kingsland Eco-neighbourhood
      • Lemington Reserve Restoration Group
      • Lower Waitītko groups
      • Oakley Loop Group
      • Pest Free Gladstone
      • Pest Free Lamps
      • Pest Free Maungawhau
      • Pest Free Ōwairaka
      • Pest Free Pt Chevalier
      • Pest Free Sandringham
      • Pest Free Waterview
      • Predator Free Grey Lynn
      • Predator Free Morningside / Western Springs
      • Predator Free Ponsonby
      • Predator Free West Lynn
      • Predator Free Westmere / Kaiwhakahaere
      • STEPS
      • Urban Ark – Manawa Taiao
      • Wellparkers
    • Trap rats, possums and more
      • Rats
      • Possums
      • Stoats
      • Hedgehogs
      • Wasps
    • Remove weeds
    • Plant natives
    • Make your garden native-friendly
    • Other ways you can help
  • Biodiversity
    • Birds
      • Kākā
      • Kākāriki
      • Kererū
      • Korimako / Bellbird
      • Riroriro / Grey Warbler
      • Tōrea / South Island Pied Oystercatcher
      • Rūrū / Morepork
      • Tūī
      • White-faced heron
      • Rogues gallery
    • Bats
    • Skinks and geckos
    • Butterflies and moths
    • Invertebrates
    • Landscapes
      • The maunga
      • Waitītiko / Meola Creek
      • Te Auaunga / Oakley Creek
      • Rock forests
  • Resources
    • The Workshop
      • Making trap tunnels
      • Rat-proof your compost
      • Build a wētā motel
    • Tool library
    • Trapping resources
      • Setting rat traps
      • Setting a Trapinator possum trap
      • Humane trapping
      • Pulsing
      • What's the best lure?
      • Blaze your tree
      • Recording your catch
      • Dealing with dead rats (and possums)
      • New technology
    • Promotional resources
    • Pest monitoring
      • Chew cards
      • Wax tags
      • Tracking tunnels
    • Being a good citizen
    • Seeking funding
    • Cats
    • Dogs
    • Schools
    • Businesses
    • Health & Safety
  • News
  • Events
  • About us
    • Our vision
    • Our plan
    • Our partners and supporters
    • Our trust board
  • Support us
  • Contact