‘Gazania Free Gardens’ plant swap day rescheduled to June 19

The City of Marion has rescheduled this weekend’s Gazania Free Gardens Plant Swap Day to Sunday, June 19, due to forecasts of wet and windy weather.

The rescheduled event is being held from 1pm to 3pm at the Cove Civic Centre with the aim of tackling the invasive Gazania plant in local gardens by offering to swap the declared weed with local native seedlings.

Residents and businesses are being encouraged to remove some Gazanias from their gardens, take a photo of them and head to the Cove Civic Centre in the afternoon of June 19 to collect some free native plants as a replacement.

Participants in the Swap Day must be City of Marion residents or businesses and there will be a limit of around half a dozen native plants per household.

“Gazanias are a declared weed that commonly 'escape' from gardens as their seeds are easily spread,” Mayor Kris Hanna said.

“Once established in our coastal environments, they quickly out-compete local native plants and reduce habitat, food and shelter for local wildlife.

“They are costly to control and take valuable resources away from other important environmental issues.”

Council manages Gazanias as part of the ongoing weed management program on verges and in reserves.

For more details and to register your involvement head online to the Eventbrite listing here.

Gazania Free Gardens is a project initially developed by Alexandrina Council with the initiative now being rolled out in other Councils with support from Green Adelaide.

As part of this initiative, Green Adelaide is also running a Coastal Gardens Workshop at Cove Civic Centre on Thursday, June 16.

For more information and to register, head to Free Coastal Gardens workshop - metro coast Tickets, Thu 16/06/2022 at 6:00 pm | Eventbrite

“If you live or run a business in Marion, why not pull out your Gazanias and head to the Cove Civic Centre on June 19 to receive some free native plants at the plant swap and come along to the Coastal Gardens Workshop on June 16 to find out more about local native plants, get landscaping ideas and plant maintenance tips,” Mayor Hanna said.

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