Invasive garden plants that are still sold, and what to plant instead

36 of the planner's plants are invasive somewhere in North America, and 16 of those are among the most widely sold garden plants. For each, a plant to grow instead.

A plant is marked invasive here when it is regulated somewhere in North America or widely listed by states as invasive. It stays in the plant files, so its page can say so and say what to grow instead, but the planner never puts one in a bed.

What makes them dangerous is what makes them popular: they are tough, fast and self-sufficient. Birds carry the berries of barberry and burning bush into woods; maiden grass and butterfly bush seed into fields and roadsides; periwinkle and creeping Jenny run along the ground into anything nearby. A garden plant only has to escape once.

The list, and what to plant instead

The stand-in is the plant the planner rates closest, matched on the job it does in a bed, its size and its flowering time, and native to North America where one comes close.

Invasive status varies by region. Check your own state's or province's list before planting anything with a spread warning.

Counted from the planner's plant files when this page was made. Each plant is checked against NC State Extension, the ASPCA lists and USDA PLANTS; see each plant's page for its sources.