The battle begins

Agapanthus are South African originally, also known as the Lily of the Nile, and were brought here quite deliberately. Another item, along with rabbits and gorse, on our long list of wrong-headed imports.

– The Agapanthus City, John Summers

Before I pulled on my first pair of gardening gloves, the giant purple flowers and glossy green clumps of agapanthus looked pretty exotic to me. When we moved in to the house, I was happy enough to leave the long line of them along our pathway.

When I learnt it was an invasive weed in NZ, I began to see it everywhere. I started digging out isolated plants, one smothering a small kōwhai on the bank. Progressing to the bigger ones, I had a begrudging respect for how tenaciously they held on even in clay banks with poor soil. The garden bin filled up with green leaves, giant roots and spongy rhizomes every week.

We’ve got about 10 metres of agapanthus alongside our path and a huge three-deep row of them at our front fence. Although they’ll be a feisty opponent I’ve decided they have to go, with native trees and ground covers planted in their place.

Me and Sprocket got through our first few metres of path-side ‘panthas this morning, learning to remove in reasonable slices so they can still be carried afterwards. A thin, sharp trench spade seems to do the trick. We’re due a big storm tomorrow and I’m hoping the remaining bank won’t vanish in the downpour.

The dog fared the best out of the morning’s back-breaking efforts, scoring five new balls to gallop around the garden with (one cricket, three tennis, one ping-pong). The long-undisturbed leaves were also hiding a cracked pāua shell, foam darts, hosepipe fittings and an extended family of snails.

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