I heard a news item this week about some plants in the Auckland area being 'declared' as potential pest species. Agapanthus and some palms.

I know that certain pest plants in the north are dear treasures further south (and expensive!!!) eg Watsonia and Smilax. And the south has its own monsters eg Patterson's Curse aka 'borage' (Echium) and Oenothera.

But there are no warnings on the exchange site - which is a pity.

The other part of this minor rant is around getting more traffic to the exchanges so sharing can get going and we can learn how to pack/send seeds and plant material effectively. Or are there other more popular local sites for this?

(You can tell who finally found the Exchange link!!! moi. And also finally found my ancient post which spike moved back in the pre-iVillage days. I never did know where it went. Perhaps I just found 'Disney'?)

Back to Google and the hunt for a lively set of forums locally. As a non-specialist garden I'd be delighted to find a busy place with lots of ideas flowing.