Please stop buying this! It is an invasive species

Facebook marketplace and Gumtree are heaving with listings of Pampas Grass - an invasive weed species from South America. Currently on trend in floral arrangements, particularly for weddings,  invasive species like this can have a huge negative impact on our natural environment.  

This fast-growing grass can grow to six metres tall when in flower and outcompetes our native vegetation. A single seed head can contain up 100,000 seeds, which are spread by the wind or people harvesting, transporting or dumping the flower head.

Council’s Invasive Species Team has been working to control the weed at a number of sites across the Northern Beaches We’ll also be educating land owners on their requirements to control the issue in the latter half of of 2019.

Buying or selling Pampas Grass is a fineable offence under the NSW Biosecurity Act 2015.  This means it’s against the law to trade, carry, or grow any part of the plant. Many of our local florists are aware of this and do not supply the flower heads. Unfortunately, there are online traders who are not so diligent.

Stick to the Aussie natives, they will never go out of style.