Zanthorrea Nursery

Zanthorrea Nursery in Western Australia has been named Australia's Most Weed-Wise Nursery!

In presenting the award at the beginning of November 2006, the WA State government's Minister for Agriculture and Food, Kim Chance commended Zanthorrea's proactive approach to the problem of environmental weeds.

'This nursery does not sell plants that have the potential to become serious environmental weeds threatening our native plants, wildlife and environments,' Mr Chance said.

Zanthorrea Nursery was nominated for this new National Award by the Weeds Society of Western Australia, a professional association that brings together researchers, agribusiness consultants, farmers and others working with weeds. Mr Chance said garden escapees were a major environmental problem for Australia.

'The proprietors of Zanthorrea, Alec and Jackie Hooper (pictured here), are well known for their positive attitude towards the environment, showing a great commitment on the issue of invasive alien plants,' he said. 'They have an admirable proactive approach to educating their customers, and building community knowledge about the kind of garden plants that could become environmental weeds.'

'They are forward thinkers - refusing to sell many high-risk invasive garden plant species such as lantana (Lantana camara) and arum lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica) for some years, well before they were banned under State legislation,' he said.

SGA spoke with Zanthorrea co-owner Jackie Hooper about the win.

'The block of land we bought to build the nursery on was quite degraded bush, complete with dumped cars, rubbish and lots of weeds like jonquils, ixias and Watsonia,' explains Jackie. 'But within a short walk is a very pristine area of bush. It was obvious to us as a business that reducing the spread of invasive species was essential and we built a team that is united in this view.'

When asked about the loss of sales from not selling popular but invasive garden plants, Jackie responds emphatically, 'It's not about the dollars - we just won't sell them at all, regardless, but by making a stand and promoting alternative native plants we actually attract people who have the same mindset.'

'People feel powerless to stop environmental degradation,' she says. 'But if they can do something, even a little bit, they feel much better. By shopping here they feel good!'

The Council of Australasian Weed Societies (CAWS) National Award won by Zanthorrea is open to nurseries throughout Australia and New Zealand. home.vicnet.net.au/~weedss/

The pic here shows Federal Minister Eric Abetz presenting the Hoopers with their Sustainable Garden Centre certificate

Zanthorrea and SGA

James Robilliard, SGA's WA Sustainable Garden Centre Co-ordinator, explains that Zanthorrea Nursery has been instrumental in helping SGA get established in Western Australia. Jackie Hooper assisted SGA in networking with garden centres, weed groups, other organizations and individuals.

SGA CEO Mary Trigger and James also met with Gardening Australia's Josh Byrne at Zanthorrea, which was facilitated with Jackie's assistance. The meeting was to discuss with Josh the proposal for him to become SGA's patron in WA, which Josh later accepted.

And Zanthorrea Nursery was amongst the first to agree to be part of SGA's WA leadership group. The leadership Group is made up of representatives from the key stakeholder groups in WA along with representatives from selected mainstream garden centres. The purpose of the meeting was for members of the leadership group to give feedback to SGA on the Victorian certification manual so that it could be customised to suit WA conditions.

Click here for a full list of certified Sustainable Garden Centres

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