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Great Native Plant Alternatives

The information presented below was prepared by the The United States National Arboretum. Visit the National Arboretum's website.

Kick the Invasive Exotic Gardening Habit with Great Native Plant Alternatives

It’s time to eradicate those unruly invasives from your garden and add some new choices to your plant inventory. Famous for stepping beyond garden boundaries, invasive exotics wreak havoc on natural areas. We have all seen how English ivy smothers wildflowers and topples shade trees or how Japanese honeysuckle literally strangles shrubs and small trees. Leaving old garden standards behind is difficult but necessary if our natural parks, forests, and fields are to have a future.

Invasive plants turn into landscape thugs by out-competing the surrounding natives. In the mid-Atlantic region, they tend to put their leaves out earlier in the spring and lose them later in the fall than their native counterparts. This extended growth period gives them a significant advantage over the native species. In addition, these plants have no natural enemy—neither insect nor disease—and quickly produce abundant offspring. Many invasive plants are unpalatable to deer and quickly take over where deer are abundant.

Purple passionflower
(Passiflora incarnata).

Before choosing a native plant alternative, first think about the characteristics of the invasive plant you are replacing. Using Japanese honeysuckle as an example, its sweet fragrance or vining habit might be the desired characteristics. So, get rid of the honeysuckle and replant with fragrant summer bloomers like sweetbay magnolia, Magnolia virginiana, a tree, and add the summer-blooming leatherflower vine, Clematis viorna, if you like the vine habit. The new combination gives you everything you liked about the honeysuckle without its devastating weediness.

Native Plant Alternatives\1

Problem Plant	Desirable Characteristics	Great Alternatives
Japanese Wisteria	showy flowers, fragrance	woodland phlox, Phlox divaricatus sweet azalea, Rhododendron canescens coast azalea, Rhododendron atlanticum American wisteria, Wisteria frutescens
Japanese Honeysuckle	fragrant flowers	leatherflower, Clematis viorna Carolina jasmine, Gelsemium sempervirens trumpet honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens sweetbay magnolia, Magnolia virginiana purple passionflower, Passiflora incarnata
English Ivy	Drought Tolerant Evergreen	plantain-leaved sedge, Carex plantaginea marginal woodfern, Dryopteris marginalis woodland aster, Eurybia divaricatus alumroot, Heuchera villosa creeping mint, Meehania cordata Allegheny spurge, Pachysandra procumbens creeping phlox, Phlox stolonifera Solomon’s seal, Polygonatum biflorum Christmas fern, Polystichum acrostichoides
Autumn Olive	Drought Tolerant	strawberry bush, Euonymus americanus wax-myrtle, Myrica cerifera meadowsweet, Spiraea latifolia mapleleaf viburnum, Viburnum acerifolium
Barberry	Cheap/Nice Fruit	strawberry bush, Euonymus americanus shrubby St. Johnswort, Hypericum prolificum winterberry, Ilex verticillata deerberry, Vaccinium stamineum mapleleaf viburnum, Viburnum acerifolium
Purple Loosestrife	Long Bloom Season/Wet Tolerant	swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata sweet pepperbush, Clethra alnifolia purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea gayfeather, Liatris spicata grass-leaved blazing star, Liatris pilosa green-headed coneflower, Rudbeckia laciniata New York ironweed, Vernonia novaboracensis
Miscanthus species	Strong Vertical and Fall/Winter Interest	split-beard bluestem, Andropogon ternarius switchgrass, Panicum virgatum sugarcane plumegrass, Saccharum giganteum little bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium Indiangrass, Sorghastrum nutans
Lesser Celandine	Early Color	spring beauty, Claytonia virginica yellow ragwort, Senecio aureus Other spring ephemerals, if nursery propagated
Asian Bittersweet	Showy Fruits	American bittersweet, Celastrus scandens Virginia rose, Rosa virginiana
Porcelainberry	Fast Grower/Colorful Fruits	gray dogwood, Cornus racemosa Virginia creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia swamp haw viburnum, Viburnum nudum
Shrubby honeysuckle	Replant after removal	spicebush, Lindera benzoin highbush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum arrow-wood viburnum, Viburnum dentatum
Burning Bush Euonymus	Fall Color	fringed bluestar, Amsonia ciliata Hubricht’s bluestar, Amsonia hubrichtii witch-alder, Fothergilla gardenii oak-leaf hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia fetterbush, Leucothoe racemosa swamp haw, Viburnum dentatum arrow-wood viburnum, Viburnum nudum

Note: This list is based upon invasive plants in the mid-Atlantic region. For more information on invasive plants in your region, please check out the following web sites:

U.S. Forest Service
Rangeland Management
Botany Program
1400 Independence Ave., SW, Mailstop Code: 1103
Washington DC 20250-1103

Location: http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/nativegardening/alternatives.shtml
Last modified: Tuesday, 24-Jun-2008 21:54:48 EDT