As Nanaimo council considers the option to ban the sale of invasive plants, garden centres say the expected impact on their industry will be minimal.
"I definitely support their listing as long as there is a bit more detail on what it is covering and how it applies, and as long as they are careful when they decide what they add to it," said Jarrett Gerke, owner of Green Thumb Garden Centre on Hammond Bay Road.
Green Thumb Garden Centre opened its doors in 1959, and has existed through various plant trends since its founding. Gerke said most invasives are not used in the industry, so he doesn't anticipate much economic impact from removing their ability to sell it.
"The one thing that needs to just be discussed a bit further is making sure people understand common names may not equate to what's actually invasive."
As an example, Gerke points to the invasive spurge laurel, otherwise known as daphne, and how an improperly worded ban has the potential to also impact other non-spurge laurel daphnes.
"There is one specific species of daphne that is the invasive one. In general I'd say most daphnes are really tough to keep alive and grow, except for that one."
Gerke also questions if such a bylaw would target sterile cultivars from an invasive species, such as English ivy. Gerke said that while he refuses to sell unmodified English ivy, he sells modified cultivars for hanging basket use. He noted that since it is such a small part of their sales, that if the ban prevented it, there wouldn't be a significant economic impact.
"People do want them and they do ask for them because they are evergreen and they don't tend to bloom, so it prevents bringing a ton of bees around their patio if they don't want them, say an apartment patio," he said.
"As far as we've seen in the past they haven't bloomed, which means they … therefore shouldn't be seeding."
Despite all this, Gerke said he is supportive of a ban "as long as it's very clearly worded" without vague language that may confuse people.
"Our biggest concern is someone might say, 'Oh I see ivy [on the list]. All plants with the name ivy in them are bad.' That would be our biggest concern is there's other things that may have ivy in the common name that have no relation to it."
When introducing the motion on March 3 to prepare a staff report on how council could prohibit the sale and spread of invasive species within the city, Coun. Hilary Eastmure drew specific reference to Squamish. In that municipality, the invasive species management bylaw, which prohibits the sale of or planting invasive species, defines invasive species as those recognized by provincial regulations. The penalty for repeatedly violating Squamish's bylaw is a fine up to $10,000, or ensuring compliance by performing the work to remove the plants at the land owner or resident's expense.
Nanaimo has a list of the invasive plants on its website, which includes the species' scientific names as well as common names. It can be viewed at http://nanaimo.ca/green-initiatives/natural-environment-and-ecosystems/invasive-species.
Gerke said he found the city's current listing "pretty clear and good" but noted "there are some invasive plant lists out there that aren't necessarily relevant to our local area."
"The Island does have quite a few invasive plants and species on it, these are definitely the big ones to control that are the most noticeable. These would be the ones that would make the biggest impact to take care of."
Kleijn Nurseries and Garden Centre is outside city limits, but owner Nol Kleijn said he supports the initiative, saying the impact on his industry "will be next to nothing." Some of the more popular plants from Kleijn Nurseries include Oregon grape, oceanspray and Nootka roses – all of which are native to the Nanaimo area.
"We got hundreds of plants to choose from – there's no shortage of options out there."
Regardless of whether Nanaimo's ban goes ahead, Gerke said that in order to combat invasive spread from gardens, Green Thumb will be posting information at the business, instructing customers on how to properly dispose of garden plants.
"There's quite a few plants that end up in general hanging baskets, that if not handled properly can be a bit invasive, if they're just thrown in a backyard over a fence or something," Gerke said. "It's no different than someone disposing of their goldfish in a lake."
