Bouquet of invasive weeds wins top award at Margaret River Agricultural Show

Nature Conservation Margaret River entered the arrangement in the show's mixed weed category, using plants commonly found in home gardens that have become invasive in the region's South West. The bouquet also included watsonia, Flinders Range wattle, periwinkle and Victorian tea tree.

Margaret River Agricultural Show vice-president Julie Kirby said there had been a record-breaking 200 floral exhibits across several categories, including roses, wedding bouquets, mixed arrangements, floral art and mixed weed arrangements. The conservation group's entry earned ribbons in the mixed weeds category and best overall exhibit.

"The best exhibit is one that really catches the judges' eyes," Ms Kirby said. "We have trained and accredited judges from the Western Australian Horticultural Council and they thought that the overall design, the workmanship, and the colour harmony and the quality and the condition of this particular display was just so impressive."

She noted that for the mixed weed arrangement category, entrants can collect plants from bushland or roadsides rather than growing them themselves. The bouquet was disposed of safely to prevent seeds from spreading, she said.

Nature Conservation Margaret River biodiversity officer Obelia Walker said the organisation saw the competition as an opportunity to draw attention to the region's most problematic invasive plants. She said she was surprised to discover the arrangement had taken out the overall bouquet award.

"I didn't realise that I'd actually won the champion bouquet for the whole category," Ms Walker said.

She said the judges recognised the arrangement as a creative way to get the community thinking about the threat posed by invasive weeds. "Weeds are sometimes a tricky one to get people to pay attention to," Ms Walker said. "They really take over and smother all our lovely native plants. Arum lily, of course, can just become such a monoculture and a carpet, but the others can as well."

Arum lily, considered one of the most damaging weeds in the country, was banned from sale in WA more than 20 years ago, but its infestation of forests across the South West shows no sign of slowing. More than 3,000 private landowners have requested help to eradicate the weed on their properties.

Ms Walker said invasive weeds often thrived because they had no natural predators, and encouraged gardeners to consider alternative plants rather than risk introducing invasive species. The organisation hopes the prize-winning bouquet will encourage closer scrutiny of what is planted in backyards.