Children in bush illustration
Image: DOC

Introduction

Help stop the spread of weeds in New Zealand. Earn a Kiwi Guardians medal for becoming a warrior in the War of Weeds!

Explore your garden and neighbourhood

Many of these ‘good plants gone bad’ are still being grown in gardens – it’s no accident that the weediest natural areas are those closest to where people live.

The number of weeds found in a reserve is linked to the number of gardens nearby. If you live near a community of native plants, the decisions you and your neighbors make will affect the survival of that plant community.

Take a good look at what’s growing in your garden and in local areas around you - and don’t be fooled by good looks. Even pretty plants can be problem weeds.

Use iNaturalist NZ – Mātaki Taiao to help you work out the plants in your garden or local park, and spot three different weeds.

Exterminate!

Once you know what weeds you’ve found visit Weedbusters to find out the best way to get rid of them for good!

Remove the weeds, or let other people know about the weeds you’ve spotted and what they can do about them.

Kiwi Guardians medal for becoming a warrior in the war of weeds.
Kiwi Guardians medal for becoming a warrior in the war of weeds

Claim your Kiwi Guardians medal

Tell us about the three weeds you saw and what you’ve done about them and we’ll send you Kiwi Guardians Weed Warrior medal.

Get your Kiwi Guardians medal

Each Kiwi Guardians action has a different medal - see how many you can collect.

If you share something online use #KiwiGuardians so we can see what you’ve done and share it with others!

Weedy plants are one of the greatest threats to New Zealand’s parks, reserves, coasts, bush remnants, wetlands and alpine areas. Most of these are plants that have ‘jumped the garden fence’ and gone wild

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