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NATIVE REPLACEMENTS
for commonly planted invasives
INVASIVE: Nandina Domestica
Invasive shrub with toxic berries
NATIVE REPLACEMENT: Spicebush
Fragrant leaves you can make a tea with, has colorful red berries and attracts beautiful butterflies
NANDINA
INVASIVE: Forsythia
NATIVE REPLACEMENT: Spicebush
Fragrant leaves you can make a tea with, has colorful red berries and attracts beautiful butterflies
FORSYTHIA
INVASIVE: Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Bush benefits pollinators but only at one stage of their life cycle. It attracts butterflies because it provides copious nectar. However, butterflies need host plants on which to lay eggs and on which their caterpillars feed. Not a single native caterpillar eats Butterfly Bush leaves.
If Butterfly Bush were just a pretty garden shrub, it would be less of a concern. But its high reproductive success and dispersal means that Butterfly Bush replaces native shrubs outside the garden, in natural areas. It establishes in sunny, well-drained sites including fields, roadsides, woods edges, and riverbanks, where native shrubs would have grown. Those vanished native shrubs were essential food sources for caterpillars. Without caterpillars, there will be no adult butterflies. Without caterpillars, birds will not survive.
Replacements: Sweet Pepperbush, Buttonbush, New Jersey Tea, Blazing Star
If Butterfly Bush were just a pretty garden shrub, it would be less of a concern. But its high reproductive success and dispersal means that Butterfly Bush replaces native shrubs outside the garden, in natural areas. It establishes in sunny, well-drained sites including fields, roadsides, woods edges, and riverbanks, where native shrubs would have grown. Those vanished native shrubs were essential food sources for caterpillars. Without caterpillars, there will be no adult butterflies. Without caterpillars, birds will not survive.
Replacements: Sweet Pepperbush, Buttonbush, New Jersey Tea, Blazing Star
Replace with Sweet Pepperbush
This beautiful shrub has fragrant white or pink flower spikes in the late summer and will grow in sun, part shade and shade as well as with clay soil. The plant will attract butterflies as well as birds including hummingbirds!
sweetpepperbush
sweetpepperbush
Replace with New Jersey Tea
New Jersey tea is a deciduous shrub that has white flowers which bloom in March and April. The flowers not only attract butterflies but the shrub is also an effective larval host plant as well. It’s thick roots make it able to withstand drought conditions but hard to transplant.
Replace with Buttonbush
This shrub can grow from 6-12ft tall and has white or pale-pink blooms that can last from June to September. Buttonbush is deer resistant, a good nectar source and will attract birds, bees and butterflies to your yard.
Blazing Star / Liatris Spicata
Liatris spicata, also known as Spike Gayfeather, is a tall, upright, clump-forming perennial which is native to moist low grounds, meadows and marsh margins. It typically grows 2-4' tall in cultivation, but can reach a height of 6' in some parts of its native habitat.
INVASIVE: Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Bush benefits pollinators but only at one stage of their life cycle. It attracts butterflies because it provides copious nectar. However, butterflies need host plants on which to lay eggs and on which their caterpillars feed. Not a single native caterpillar eats Butterfly Bush leaves.
If Butterfly Bush were just a pretty garden shrub, it would be less of a concern. But its high reproductive success and dispersal means that Butterfly Bush replaces native shrubs outside the garden, in natural areas. It establishes in sunny, well-drained sites including fields, roadsides, woods edges, and riverbanks, where native shrubs would have grown. Those vanished native shrubs were essential food sources for caterpillars. Without caterpillars, there will be no adult butterflies. Without caterpillars, birds will not survive.
Replacements: Sweet Pepperbush, Buttonbush, New Jersey Tea, Blazing Star
If Butterfly Bush were just a pretty garden shrub, it would be less of a concern. But its high reproductive success and dispersal means that Butterfly Bush replaces native shrubs outside the garden, in natural areas. It establishes in sunny, well-drained sites including fields, roadsides, woods edges, and riverbanks, where native shrubs would have grown. Those vanished native shrubs were essential food sources for caterpillars. Without caterpillars, there will be no adult butterflies. Without caterpillars, birds will not survive.
Replacements: Sweet Pepperbush, Buttonbush, New Jersey Tea, Blazing Star
Replace with Sweet Pepperbush
This beautiful shrub has fragrant white or pink flower spikes in the late summer and will grow in sun, part shade and shade as well as with clay soil. The plant will attract butterflies as well as birds including hummingbirds!
sweetpepperbush
sweetpepperbush
Replace with New Jersey Tea
New Jersey tea is a deciduous shrub that has white flowers which bloom in March and April. The flowers not only attract butterflies but the shrub is also an effective larval host plant as well. It’s thick roots make it able to withstand drought conditions but hard to transplant.
Replace with Buttonbush
This shrub can grow from 6-12ft tall and has white or pale-pink blooms that can last from June to September. Buttonbush is deer resistant, a good nectar source and will attract birds, bees and butterflies to your yard.
Blazing Star / Liatris Spicata
Liatris spicata, also known as Spike Gayfeather, is a tall, upright, clump-forming perennial which is native to moist low grounds, meadows and marsh margins. It typically grows 2-4' tall in cultivation, but can reach a height of 6' in some parts of its native habitat.
INVASIVE: Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Bush benefits pollinators but only at one stage of their life cycle. It attracts butterflies because it provides copious nectar. However, butterflies need host plants on which to lay eggs and on which their caterpillars feed. Not a single native caterpillar eats Butterfly Bush leaves.
If Butterfly Bush were just a pretty garden shrub, it would be less of a concern. But its high reproductive success and dispersal means that Butterfly Bush replaces native shrubs outside the garden, in natural areas. It establishes in sunny, well-drained sites including fields, roadsides, woods edges, and riverbanks, where native shrubs would have grown. Those vanished native shrubs were essential food sources for caterpillars. Without caterpillars, there will be no adult butterflies. Without caterpillars, birds will not survive.
Replacements: Sweet Pepperbush, Buttonbush, New Jersey Tea, Blazing Star
If Butterfly Bush were just a pretty garden shrub, it would be less of a concern. But its high reproductive success and dispersal means that Butterfly Bush replaces native shrubs outside the garden, in natural areas. It establishes in sunny, well-drained sites including fields, roadsides, woods edges, and riverbanks, where native shrubs would have grown. Those vanished native shrubs were essential food sources for caterpillars. Without caterpillars, there will be no adult butterflies. Without caterpillars, birds will not survive.
Replacements: Sweet Pepperbush, Buttonbush, New Jersey Tea, Blazing Star
Replace with Sweet Pepperbush
This beautiful shrub has fragrant white or pink flower spikes in the late summer and will grow in sun, part shade and shade as well as with clay soil. The plant will attract butterflies as well as birds including hummingbirds!
sweetpepperbush
sweetpepperbush
Replace with New Jersey Tea
New Jersey tea is a deciduous shrub that has white flowers which bloom in March and April. The flowers not only attract butterflies but the shrub is also an effective larval host plant as well. It’s thick roots make it able to withstand drought conditions but hard to transplant.
Replace with Buttonbush
This shrub can grow from 6-12ft tall and has white or pale-pink blooms that can last from June to September. Buttonbush is deer resistant, a good nectar source and will attract birds, bees and butterflies to your yard.
Blazing Star / Liatris Spicata
Liatris spicata, also known as Spike Gayfeather, is a tall, upright, clump-forming perennial which is native to moist low grounds, meadows and marsh margins. It typically grows 2-4' tall in cultivation, but can reach a height of 6' in some parts of its native habitat.
INVASIVE: Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Bush benefits pollinators but only at one stage of their life cycle. It attracts butterflies because it provides copious nectar. However, butterflies need host plants on which to lay eggs and on which their caterpillars feed. Not a single native caterpillar eats Butterfly Bush leaves.
If Butterfly Bush were just a pretty garden shrub, it would be less of a concern. But its high reproductive success and dispersal means that Butterfly Bush replaces native shrubs outside the garden, in natural areas. It establishes in sunny, well-drained sites including fields, roadsides, woods edges, and riverbanks, where native shrubs would have grown. Those vanished native shrubs were essential food sources for caterpillars. Without caterpillars, there will be no adult butterflies. Without caterpillars, birds will not survive.
Replacements: Sweet Pepperbush, Buttonbush, New Jersey Tea, Blazing Star
If Butterfly Bush were just a pretty garden shrub, it would be less of a concern. But its high reproductive success and dispersal means that Butterfly Bush replaces native shrubs outside the garden, in natural areas. It establishes in sunny, well-drained sites including fields, roadsides, woods edges, and riverbanks, where native shrubs would have grown. Those vanished native shrubs were essential food sources for caterpillars. Without caterpillars, there will be no adult butterflies. Without caterpillars, birds will not survive.
Replacements: Sweet Pepperbush, Buttonbush, New Jersey Tea, Blazing Star
Replace with Sweet Pepperbush
This beautiful shrub has fragrant white or pink flower spikes in the late summer and will grow in sun, part shade and shade as well as with clay soil. The plant will attract butterflies as well as birds including hummingbirds!
sweetpepperbush
sweetpepperbush
Replace with New Jersey Tea
New Jersey tea is a deciduous shrub that has white flowers which bloom in March and April. The flowers not only attract butterflies but the shrub is also an effective larval host plant as well. It’s thick roots make it able to withstand drought conditions but hard to transplant.
Replace with Buttonbush
This shrub can grow from 6-12ft tall and has white or pale-pink blooms that can last from June to September. Buttonbush is deer resistant, a good nectar source and will attract birds, bees and butterflies to your yard.
Blazing Star / Liatris Spicata
Liatris spicata, also known as Spike Gayfeather, is a tall, upright, clump-forming perennial which is native to moist low grounds, meadows and marsh margins. It typically grows 2-4' tall in cultivation, but can reach a height of 6' in some parts of its native habitat.
INVASIVE: Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Bush benefits pollinators but only at one stage of their life cycle. It attracts butterflies because it provides copious nectar. However, butterflies need host plants on which to lay eggs and on which their caterpillars feed. Not a single native caterpillar eats Butterfly Bush leaves.
If Butterfly Bush were just a pretty garden shrub, it would be less of a concern. But its high reproductive success and dispersal means that Butterfly Bush replaces native shrubs outside the garden, in natural areas. It establishes in sunny, well-drained sites including fields, roadsides, woods edges, and riverbanks, where native shrubs would have grown. Those vanished native shrubs were essential food sources for caterpillars. Without caterpillars, there will be no adult butterflies. Without caterpillars, birds will not survive.
Replacements: Sweet Pepperbush, Buttonbush, New Jersey Tea, Blazing Star
If Butterfly Bush were just a pretty garden shrub, it would be less of a concern. But its high reproductive success and dispersal means that Butterfly Bush replaces native shrubs outside the garden, in natural areas. It establishes in sunny, well-drained sites including fields, roadsides, woods edges, and riverbanks, where native shrubs would have grown. Those vanished native shrubs were essential food sources for caterpillars. Without caterpillars, there will be no adult butterflies. Without caterpillars, birds will not survive.
Replacements: Sweet Pepperbush, Buttonbush, New Jersey Tea, Blazing Star
Replace with Sweet Pepperbush
This beautiful shrub has fragrant white or pink flower spikes in the late summer and will grow in sun, part shade and shade as well as with clay soil. The plant will attract butterflies as well as birds including hummingbirds!
sweetpepperbush
sweetpepperbush
Replace with New Jersey Tea
New Jersey tea is a deciduous shrub that has white flowers which bloom in March and April. The flowers not only attract butterflies but the shrub is also an effective larval host plant as well. It’s thick roots make it able to withstand drought conditions but hard to transplant.
Replace with Buttonbush
This shrub can grow from 6-12ft tall and has white or pale-pink blooms that can last from June to September. Buttonbush is deer resistant, a good nectar source and will attract birds, bees and butterflies to your yard.
Blazing Star / Liatris Spicata
Liatris spicata, also known as Spike Gayfeather, is a tall, upright, clump-forming perennial which is native to moist low grounds, meadows and marsh margins. It typically grows 2-4' tall in cultivation, but can reach a height of 6' in some parts of its native habitat.
INVASIVE: Butterfly Bush
Butterfly Bush benefits pollinators but only at one stage of their life cycle. It attracts butterflies because it provides copious nectar. However, butterflies need host plants on which to lay eggs and on which their caterpillars feed. Not a single native caterpillar eats Butterfly Bush leaves.
If Butterfly Bush were just a pretty garden shrub, it would be less of a concern. But its high reproductive success and dispersal means that Butterfly Bush replaces native shrubs outside the garden, in natural areas. It establishes in sunny, well-drained sites including fields, roadsides, woods edges, and riverbanks, where native shrubs would have grown. Those vanished native shrubs were essential food sources for caterpillars. Without caterpillars, there will be no adult butterflies. Without caterpillars, birds will not survive.
Replacements: Sweet Pepperbush, Buttonbush, New Jersey Tea, Blazing Star
If Butterfly Bush were just a pretty garden shrub, it would be less of a concern. But its high reproductive success and dispersal means that Butterfly Bush replaces native shrubs outside the garden, in natural areas. It establishes in sunny, well-drained sites including fields, roadsides, woods edges, and riverbanks, where native shrubs would have grown. Those vanished native shrubs were essential food sources for caterpillars. Without caterpillars, there will be no adult butterflies. Without caterpillars, birds will not survive.
Replacements: Sweet Pepperbush, Buttonbush, New Jersey Tea, Blazing Star
Replace with Sweet Pepperbush
This beautiful shrub has fragrant white or pink flower spikes in the late summer and will grow in sun, part shade and shade as well as with clay soil. The plant will attract butterflies as well as birds including hummingbirds!
sweetpepperbush
sweetpepperbush
Replace with New Jersey Tea
New Jersey tea is a deciduous shrub that has white flowers which bloom in March and April. The flowers not only attract butterflies but the shrub is also an effective larval host plant as well. It’s thick roots make it able to withstand drought conditions but hard to transplant.
Replace with Buttonbush
This shrub can grow from 6-12ft tall and has white or pale-pink blooms that can last from June to September. Buttonbush is deer resistant, a good nectar source and will attract birds, bees and butterflies to your yard.
Blazing Star / Liatris Spicata
Liatris spicata, also known as Spike Gayfeather, is a tall, upright, clump-forming perennial which is native to moist low grounds, meadows and marsh margins. It typically grows 2-4' tall in cultivation, but can reach a height of 6' in some parts of its native habitat.
INVASIVE: Barberry
While many gardeners know about Japanese barberry's strongly invasive habits, at least 20 states have reported it be invasive, many gardeners may not realize that the presence of Japanese barberry has been linked to an increased risk for Lyme disease.
NATIVE REPLACEMENT: Spicebush
Fragrant leaves you can make a tea with, has colorful red berries and attracts beautiful butterflies
INVASIVE: Burning Bush
Burning Bush (Euonymus alatus) and all its cultivars have been identified as a threat to natural areas because they seed in so prolifically and become dominant, forcing out other important plants.
Possible substitutes for burning bush are highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), brilliant chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia ‘Brilliantissima’), redvein enkianthus (Enkianthus campanulatus), and sweet spire (Itea). All of these plants exhibit similar brilliant fall color, are climate hardy in your area, are readily available, and have not caused problems in natural areas.
Possible substitutes for burning bush are highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), brilliant chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia ‘Brilliantissima’), redvein enkianthus (Enkianthus campanulatus), and sweet spire (Itea). All of these plants exhibit similar brilliant fall color, are climate hardy in your area, are readily available, and have not caused problems in natural areas.
NATIVE REPLACEMENT: Spicebush
Fragrant leaves you can make a tea with, has colorful red berries and attracts beautiful butterflies
INVASIVE: ROSE OF SHARON
Each one of those showy blossoms that appear in summer eventually turns into a fruit with a seed pod. These seed pods are spread by the wind. Because they’re so prolific and require little in the way of care, the plants easily take root and choke out the natural plants of the area. Additionally, rose of Sharon plants are hard to remove once they are past 2 years old. After two years, the shrubs develop a strong, deep tap root that makes removal difficult.
NATIVE REPLACEMENT: Swamp Rose Mallow
Hibiscus moscheutos, also known as hardy hibiscus, is a vigorous and sturdy perennial of the mallow family that loves wet areas and can produce up to 20 large blooms per day in mid-summer season.
BARBERRY
BUTTERFLY BUSH
BURNING BUSH
ROSE OF SHARON
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