BEWARE! DO NOT Buy These 11 Plants at the Garden Center / Invasive Plants That Spell Trouble
Are you planning to spruce up your landscape with new plants? Hold on! 🛑 Before shopping, be sure to review the top 11 plants commonly found at garden centers that you should avoid! These seemingly harmless species can quickly turn invasive, wreaking havoc on your garden and the surrounding ecosystem.
From fast-spreading ground covers to aggressive climbers and unruly shrubs, we expose the potential risks they pose and the detrimental effects they can have on native flora and fauna.
But don't worry, we won't leave you empty-handed! We also offer alternative plant suggestions that are non-invasive, ensuring you make environmentally-friendly choices for your landscape.
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CHAPTERS
0:00 - Introduction
0:34 - Invasive Plants
1:20 - Chameleon Plant
2:26 - Lily of the Valley
3:14 - Butterfly Bush
4:06 - Callery Pear
4:51 - Bamboo
6:12 - Burning Bush
7:04 - Barberry
7:57 - Scotch Broom
8:47 - English Ivy
9:44 - Japanese Honeysuckle
10:29 - Mexican Evening Primrose
#invasive #plants #landscaping #nature #conservation #wildlife #perennials #shrubs #vines #gardencenter #nursery #gardeningtips #gardening
Mexican Evening Primrose…I bought a 6 pack about 40 years ago, it became a neighborhood issue, it has invaded at least 8 houses and 2 streets. It also grew in my bathroom pipes and under my tile by my toilet, this plant caused thousands of dollars of damage to my bathroom. We had to buy a new toilet, replumb the entire bathroom, buy a new sink and get new cabinets. The roots destroyed everything! Don’t do it! That’s my rant for the day😳
Gah!
Shit. It was part of a seed pack for waterwise gardens. It’s been two years so it’s a established now. So far it’s not trying to takeover and I’m in Southern California which is technically in its native range, but now I’m nervous 😬.
I can't keep EPrim going in my backyard, the rabbits devour it, killing it. I had a 3 foot drift of it last year but it got eaten to the ground. I've got 1 plant left and I'm propagating it right now. Same with the yellow EP. Had that one in a pot and they mowed that down too.
I have been trying to eradicate this Primrose from my yard for years - still trying‼️🤪🤮
Holy Smokes!
Thank you for making suggestions for alternative plants rather than just saying which plants are invasive.
Agreed, very informative regarding alternative plant options - thank you for that! I’m in NC now where there are issues with English ivy and wisteria. When I lived in CA there were issues with those as well, plus scotch broom and bamboo
English ivy, or just ivy as we call it in England, is a terror, and i have loads in my garden. I also have the spindle, lily of the valley , buddleia and your chameleon plant which I've had trouble establishing. But for me the most invasive plant is periwinkle, vinca major! The mad woman who had this garden before me filled it with ivy and periwinkle! Twenty years later I'm still fighting it, but wildlife love ivy so I have to leave some bits. No one loves the periwinkle and It has to go.
The thing that drives me crazy is that these plants are allowed to be sold in the first place! WHY?!?! Especially after they are deemed invasive!
It really depends on what you do with them. Mint for example, is highly invasive, but fine in pots. And who doesn't love mint?
Because they’re easy & cheap to reproduce, perfect for making a profit.
Pots are not going to stop seeds from spreading. My yard became host to some neighbor's Mexican petunia, asparagus fern, plus happily some native Florida sage, among other plants that wind and birds spread about @@Peleski
@@LibbyRalokay, but like, the alternative is that people can’t grow their own herbs and vegetables. Mint is used in a lot, and is a large family on top of that. And mint isn’t even that bad depending on where you live. I’ve yet to meet a plant a good Texas summer and a March freeze hasn’t managed to kill. I tried growing mint in a pot and it was decimated by the weather. Only thing that survived more than one summer were the moss roses, and they’re gone too now.
Personally, I also have a terrible time growing mint. I laugh when I hear it's invasive. And there's a species I really want to grow - corsican mint - because it makes a great mosquito repellent. But there are many places that mint does spread like crazy, and the wind can carry it very far. As for your alternative @@tisvana18 I don't understand how you are coming to that conclusion just because some invasive species are banned, all vegetables and herbs are banned.
English ivy is an awful problem here in NW Oregon. It completely takes over native ground cover, and it climbs trees and weakens and kills them.
Goats will eat it.
In France we put it on a fence. Provides great cover and we trim it twice a year
I think it's native here in belgium . But it's grows very vigorously
Use it to make laundry soap. Google English ivy laundry soap
Here is SE Kansas it will grow. But our periodic droughts and fierce winter winter winds will periodically kill it to the ground. It's not a problem here. In fact I wish it could grow better.
I removed a trumpet vine 5 years ago. I am still battling the sprouts that spring up all over my yard and flowers beds.
I have a huge trumpet vine on a small old private fence. I'm always pulling little ones up all over my yard and in my flower beds. I love itbut it's very invasive.
@@judyingram-kh1vmHu
I did planted one a few years ago and now i do regret but i still love the flowers!
Plant Parthinnium and it will take over everything then burn it down before it dries.
Mature trumpet vine grew in front of the south exposed window of the old house we bought. we prunned it a bit and continued with it for another 20 years. I cannot describe how effective, beautiful natural screen - air conditioning and even sound barier it created. We kept it to about middle of the height of the window - beautiful, useful plant, bu ha to be size- controlled.
Judging by the comments, it seems the term "invasive" needs to be defined, as well as the difference between "invasive" and "aggressive"/"fast-spreading"/"non-native"/etc.
True. To be defined as "invasive" a plant has to meet 2 USDA criteria. However, many plants blur the lines and aggressive tendencies can lead to invasive spread.
My question would be how their aggressive nature affects other plants ability to grow
ie Water Hyacinth
Fantastic video! I will never understand why garden centres sell invasive plants - or at least sell them with a warning for indoor use only or something. Thank you for highlighting this important issue and sharing many of the culprits that make our way into gardens across the country. Let's hope some changes are made after so many people watching this! I know I have a bit of research to do! Thanks again for sharing these important messages!! 💚
Just a thought - Species are often labeled invasive because of how they are able to out-compete native species for resources. So garden centers sell them because they grow easily and rarely fail which makes customers happy (well, customers).
@@jimnasium452 you make a good point, but with the potential detriment to the native environment, should these invasives not be sold with some warnings / information to at least warn the purchaser? I would never had planted my English ivy if I had known it was going to outcompete everything and harm the native environment! I thought it was pretty and green - which is exactly the problem.
I was told that mint would take over and not a good idea to grow it. But I had/have grown it for years in flower pots, and contained growing areas, and it has never created a problem.
@@pattybhealthy7334 hence the problem continues
We recently bought a few acres where the property had wisteria growing up all the trees and pulling the branches down. We have spent abt 6 months and finding new starts everywhere still today.
Morning GLory has all these nightmares beat. This beautiful purple vine flower will climb from below and suffocate any plant it touches. Undetected going through grass until flower shows its face to say, "GOT YAH".😅
Difference between morning glory flowers and the morning vine. But most seeds don’t usually differentiate between the two. The vibrant colors are usually ok. The mixed pale colors. Not so much.
I’ve been fighting it for years. Dug up a huge root system and it went 2 feet deep. I hate morning glory. Never planted it, but my neighbor thought it’d be a cool plant to cover their dog kennel 😒
Planted it 20 years ago. Been fighting to keep it at bay ever since. So sorry that I ever planted it. Avoid at all costs. 😢
Bindweed...
Not morning glory you mean Bind weed.
Bamboo is not only invasive, but the roots are deep, strong, and can’t get rid of.. it is taking over the neighborhood.
Istina ,bambus ,pampas trave ,vrbe ,lipe itd
Bamboo or Japanese Knotweed?? 🤔🤣🤣 Both can be a blessing. "We" (in the West) are so inflexible..... Even the amazing Dandelion plant is persecuted..... ✌️🤣🤣🇨🇦
My sister had some in her yard last year. I guess I should tell her that it'll be back!! Lol!
It took 2 seasons to completely get rid of the bamboo in the backyard of the house i purchased. 😮💨
@@philipwhatley6742 "Was it edible?" ✌️🇨🇦
Scotch broom ... UGH! I live in Oregon and it's everywhere west of the Cascades. Doesn't grow in the high desert. It's a beautiful plant, but when it seeds, it launches them up to 4ft, so there's no way to tell until the next year where it's going to germinate. There are two issues with this admittedly beautiful plant. First, it's fast growing and faster spreading. You may have a single plant one year, and then a dozen over several acres the next. Second, it's actually a pretty aggressive allergen. For those who have allergies or asthma, it's no bueno. Luckily, the bare foliage is easy to identify and if they're not too tall, you can pull them out. Just know that when trying to pull them out, the roots are as deep as the plant is tall, so you have to be vigilant and pull these things up before they bloom if you can find them. If not, just wait until they start to bloom to identify where they are. You have to be on it in spring because if even one seeds, you may have a dozen or 2 the next year. For the largest plants, there's no way you're pulling them out. All you can do is trim to the trunk and daub with crossbow or a mixture of vinegar, salt and dish soap. Why daub? These two methods will kill everything it touches. There are empty bingo daubers that can be bought online, and then you can fill them with either. No other way. They can't even be dug up because you must get EVERY LAST root or it will regrow.
I love sweet broom. Wonderful plant in hot areas.
Čempresi ,trave koje rastu visoko ,otrovne biljke mogu ugroziti alergičare
I would suggest adding Trumpet Vine to your list. It’s growing on the neighboring property and has invaded our raised garden beds. I pulled out several thick roots over ten ft long from our garden bed just so we could plant our garden this year.
Yes, unfortunately, I planted it years ago, not knowing how invasive it would be, and that the roots travel like 20 ft underground and pop up everywhere. You cannot pull them up, as they are connected to the strong underground root that comes from the parent plant. You have to cut them to the ground and use an herbicide to kill them, but they just come up somewhere else. Have been trying to get rid of it for years. Still have them.
Yes, grow only in large containers. A great substitute is crossvine. I have planted Tangerine and Ruby Red about 3 feet apart along a fence. Their long branches intermingle, top the fence, and spill over. It looks like one plant whose flowers either open orangy red then fade to a clearer , paler orange, or vice versa.
@@joellangvardt8842 LOVE my Tangerine crossvine!
If we're talking Campsis radicans, it's native to North America, and a native plant will never truly be invasive. Extremely aggressive, yes, but I adore this plant for the benefits it brings to native wildlife. If you have a small area, it's a terrible plant to choose for your home garden, however. Right plant, right place.
@@horohorosrin if only... we didn’t plant it. It’s coming from the neighboring property which is extremely overgrown and uncared for. I pulled roots out of our raised garden so I could plant our vegetables. Now it has invaded two more raised gardens which equals more work for me.
This video said EXACTLY what I needed to hear. I adore how the narrator suggested alternatives after describing the invasives. If I could add two more to this list: blackberry and Rosa Multifora. These two get out of hand almost immediately and they issue direct eviction notices to wildlife (and people) due to their suffocating nature and strong needle-sharp thorns. I live in Southern Maryland and, between the Japanese honeysuckle, blackberry, and rosa multiflora, we are -and I’m a being completely serious here- we ARE losing our forests and wildlife. I am fighting back so aggressively on my 8 acres in the Port Tobacco River watershed. So much so, that today when I saw my golden rod patch being crept on by all three, I stopped the car, got out and had myself a blood bath while ripping it all out. The threat of scars and sore hands no longer scares me away because I know now the damage these invasive plants are causing. It is the saddest thing to realize that I likely only have 20 more good years left in me to fight this fight. I’m 41 now and will likely dedicate my life to removing these species from my property and aggressively reseeding with natives, hoping that the good ones spread, and not the bad ones.
ashleansmith: I'm 75 and still at it. You have to have a system and sometimes lots of help. I've started learning what's edible and serving it up. Then yanking it. OF course it grows back. God's gifts to us. Learning how to live with it. Good luck and Many Blessings for more than 20 years.
You’ve got a lot more than 20 years left. You’ll be surprised how vigorous and strong you’ll still be in 20 years. Forty-one is very young!
Blackberries? I just planted some blackberry bushes last year. I have noticed that they are quickly starting to spread.
When my husband and I bought our house we discovered that the previous owners had planted Virginia Creeper which has now spread over various areas of our property. It is impossible to eradicate and is now growing up old trees. They also planted Vinca which has spread out into the woody area as a ground cover.
They may not have planted it. It grows wild where I am.
I worked for a long time to get rid of Vinca. Thank goodness it was a small area when I started to get it out of my yard.
I've never had any issues with Butterfly Bush, but Scotch Broom is hellishly invasive. I've pulled up wheelbarrows full of it. On the plus side, this makes for some pretty spectacular bonfires, as the plant seems to be loaded with turpentine. It burns even when green.
Butterfly bushes are all around just bad for our native pollinators. It distracts them from the native plants and is toxic to their larva so is not even a host plant.
And burning it with seed pods activates the seed for quicker sprouting.
That's because it's very oily
Burning it stimulates it to drop its seeds which negates your hard efforts to remove it. You may want to bag it up instead and haul it to your local garbage depot.
I have a few butterfly bushes in my beds that I didn't plant. I try to remove the spent flowers before they have a chance to spread elsewhere and take over.
For me, the draw to lily of the valley is the delicious sopporific scent. My aunt had a mass of them planted under her bedroom window for that very benefit. I suppose in a tufa planter, one could sequester them from the garden in general.
So nicely stated.😊
I absolutely adore Lily Of The Valley! In my eastern Washington State yard where the winters get cold, I had a lovely area bursting with these fragrant little gems. It was about two square yards bordered on all sides by concrete and foundation walls, so no danger of spreading. I picked those flowers every May for a beautiful, dainty bouquet.
Excellent idea! Why didn’t I think of that. Looks like its time to shop for new pots 😂 just for lily of the valley
I have been fighting English Ivy in Georgia for years. The best way I have found to control it besides pulling it up is to spray it with 30% vinegar (not the 5% white vinegar you buy at the grocery store). You can find it at big box hardware stores. Mix it in a sprayer with 2 tsp dish detergent, and a tsp of salt. Spray it on any ivy you see, but be careful not to get it on anything you want to keep...so don't do it on a windy day. The vines are usually brown and dead the next day making it a lot easier to pull anything left. Just make sure you dont compost it either. I bag it up to be taken away
How much vinegar in proportion to the soap and salt?
@@user-ji2oj6ni2q For 1 quart of vinegar 1 tsp of salt and 2 tsp of dish soap
@@user-ji2oj6ni2q for 1 quart of vinegar, 2 tsp dish soap and 1 tsp salt
Great tip! I’ll have to try this! My husband and I have also been fighting English ivy for years!
Pola količine octa ,pola vode i sol
Horseradish is another plant to take care with. I planted some in my garden and thankfully I looked up information on growing horseradish and learned how invasive it is. I dug it out within 3 days and transferred it to a pot. It is apparently a real spreader in the garden and even the smallest root fragments left behind will regrow. I love making my own fresh horseradish so I container grow it only and have it sitting on concrete so there is no chance of roots touching neighbouring soil.
It depends on the area. On my zone 4 property, it did spread a bit, but so slowly it was not a problem.
Wow!!! 😢
@@sanniepstein4835 Good to know that there is some zone dependence, thanks for mentioning. I’m in zone 8b and consensus around here seems to be to avoid planting horseradish into the ground.
I have Horseradish for 10 years and it is NOT spreading.
We are in the north of England and planted horseradish in the ground at our allotment about five years ago. I wish we'd planted it in a pot. One small leaf showing equals six inches to a foot of root underground! We keep digging it up and it keeps coming back! It's in a section with mint and rhubarb ( both prolific growers) and still comes back.
The 3 butterfly bushes I had have all died over the last 10 years, the Rose of Sharon shrubs have taken over my lawn.
yes, our roses of Sharon have sent up suckers with different colored blooms. We kept a few and keep pulling out new shoots.
My rose of sharon was established before I bought my house 10 years ago. I have yet to see it spread in my 10 years. I am curious why mine isn't aggressive.
@@themonsterwithin6495 Likely depends on the variety just like Butterfly Bush.
My goats loved the rose of sharon. Took a few years to kill it all.
The scent of lily of the valley is my favorite!
I just have to include mint to this list. I recently bought a house whose yard was neglected and overgrown. After cutting back it was discovered that mint was growing everywhere. I can't put anything in the ground until it is gone. It might take several weeks but sure enough after a rain - a few more mint leaves come up through the soil. A whole summer wasted on mint pulling.
Wild onions and wild garlic chives!! My yard is FULL of random patches of this stuff. When we mow our lawn in the backyard, all you can smell is onion! 🤢
Sheet mulching might be your best bet to deal with it. Don't forget heavy overlap of the cardboard and thick thick layers of mulch. Good luck!
😅😅😅😅
@@Temme1553 love it!
@@Thi-Nguyen Well, on the bright side, it should keep voles away! 😆 I planted hundreds of tulip bulbs one year, and during the winter, under the cover of snow, voles from the surrounding woods absolutely INVADED my property to feast on the bulbs! I've been trying to plant more daphodils and have plans to add allium (onion family) because those are some of the few plants voles avoid! They eat just about everything... what a nightmare!
Virginia Creeper is my nemesis. I've tried for years to get rid of that along with some other plants I find cropping up all over my lawn. So hard to keep up on.
Whenever it rains abundantly, I walk to my yard armed with a shovel to try to uproot t Virginia Creeper. That is truly an insidious vine.
@@paulafranciscac2787 My problem is the majority of it is along a fence line, intermingled with tons of lilac bushes. The other thing is I have a commercial site next door and everything grows over there too, and it just comes right back.
Yes Yes
Creepers taken over I chop them constantly
@@asamanyworlds3772 I was at a farm store type place recently and in their garden section I saw a potted Creeper. I couldn't believe my eyes. People plant that on purpose?!
Much of the invasiveness is related to climate…here in the Chicago area we commonly have temperatures around zero for several weeks in early winter, and then yo-yo temps until may….although we have some invasive plants (Bradford pear I.e.) most everything gets killed, even border line nice plants like roses. Tee hee sometimes what manages to survive the weather gets devoured by bunnies. But the reseeding thing is easily avoided by cutting the plant back before it develops seed pods.
I planted a little beach rose at the front of my walk way and it was so cute and welcoming.........5 years later it took over the most part of the walk and threatens visitors like Gandalf, " You shall not pass!!!!!" Beware of the beach rose!!!!!!
😂
Hahaha!
😂 Gandalf, the beach rose strikes again!! Honestly, reading about all of these various invasive, aggressive plants I hesitate to put ANYTHING in my garden. My personal nightmare a few years ago was VINCA. It just took over and, when last I saw it, was heading for the middle of our street looking for further yards to conquer. I finally excavated most of it out, enough to put in some lovely Peonies that did well in that space. I have read that applying white vinegar to a wound in the stem of almost any plant will kill it...eventually. You have to keep applying it. You also have to be VERY careful not to get it in plants you want to keep. Supposed to be good for killing poison ivy. When I read "The meek shall inherit the earth" it didn't occur to me that it meant PLANTS! 🌿😵💫
I agree with the list you have sent in this reading. Thank you. Another no-no is periwinkle. Once planted, it isn't easy to get rid of, given its speedy rapid-spreading tendency!
I love the periwinkle that has covered a steep , barren hill behind my house .
My Mother (lives next door to me - Southeastern MI) regrets having planted that Chameleon Plant when I was a kid. And the Conservatory I volunteer at is constantly fighting that Japanese Honeysuckle (and some non-native tress that plague the property) with literal actual FIRE. ;) NOTE: While juniper may work as a pretty good hedge, it does change the chemical makeup of the soil it grows in so less things will grow there (I mean that's not terrible if you're trying to reduce weeds, but...) Oh AND it drops twigs of EXTREMELY sharp dried pin-needles (no, that's not a typo of pine-needles, they're actually that stabby) that go right through most gloves... Wouldn't really recommend those either. lol
I like the idea of junipers between me and a neighbor that calls the township if I sneeze too loud!
I had chameleon plant in my front garden. I later had the drive dug up to a depth of 1 metre, hardcore laid, sand on top, then bricks laid. Guess what came through 18 months later?
Oh my😮
I had one plant turn into a 20 year nightmare. They popped up everywhere! The horrible smell of trying to pull them up was gag inducing. I finally eradicated the huge patch by covering the entire area with black landscaping tarp for 3 years! Finally, the nightmare plant was smothered out of existence.
@@DaisyMaeMoses Yikes! what was the plant?
Mint! Also I've had a citronella plant take over a whole front yard. No mosquitoes but also no room That bamboo will spread regardless. I had the "non invasive" one in my yard when I bought my house.
Yeah…the clumping bamboo just gets bigger mounding clumps every year😅
The scientific evidence is that citronella doesn't deter mosquitos. It's simply not pungent enough unless crushed.
@@Peleski Interesting!
Add white yarrow to the list of plants that, once put into the ground, WILL spread like wildfire wherever its seeds might fall. I planted three basic yellow yarrow plants over a decade ago in my perennial garden, and because they did well on the high, arid plains of Eastern Colorado, I thought I would add some multicolored varieties. Big mistake. Any color other than yellow yarrow, the 'base' plant, will be a white variant (pinks, purples, oranges and peaches, etc.) and will become incredibly invasive. To keep it in check, one would have to be constantly deadheading (much like the herbal scourge, lemon balm), and while it is drought-tolerant for those of us in dry climates, its toughness is a double edged sword. Stick with the plain yarrow, if you have to have it. Not once have I seen the yellow yarrow spread or send out a bajillion seeds that will end up sprouting up EVERYWHERE.
I have seen the invasiveness of bamboo firsthand! Same with the English Ivy. Unfortunately, we planted a butterfly Bush 2 years ago. It towers over other plants. It grows so fast!
Ditto
I have non invasive Butterfly bushes and it fed many Bees, Butterflies , Hummingbird Moths, Bumble bees ,Hummingbirds etc etc. Very beneficial!
Sorry, but there is no such thing as non-invasive butterfly bush. You must live somewhere where is not possible for it to go anywhere else. Being invasive is not the only reason why it is frowned upon. It is because it is not a plant that encourages another generation of butterflies. They will not lay their eggs on it. Hence, no next generation. It's unfortunate that most books, websites, and nurseries suggest it. The Spicebush butterfly only lays it's eggs on the spicebush. Most other butterflies with lay their eggs on most perennials and anything from the milk week family. Butterfly week is a good substitute for butterfly weed. It is not a bush. Hence, it will die back after it makes pods. Also, Swallowtails love dill. My daughter plants it in succession so they can eat it the entire summer. She rarely gets any for herself but she sure has a Great Butterfly population. Good Luck. Glad you are loving all the pollinators. And definitely Very Beneficial. I could go on forever about the flowers for bees and hummingbirds.❤
Same! Literally just came home with one today to replace a plant we are having an issue with. I do buy not the compact dwarf nor the full height variety but the variety that grows to 5' and it's perfect to cover the block wall, loves the heat and sun it gets on that side of the yard and have had one in the ground for 10 years and it's not caused a single issue and is, in fact, one of the easiest care plants we have in the backyard. Pretty much ignore it and it's never spread or reseeded so maybe I have the "good" type!
My worst problem is Mahonia or Oregon Grape. My neighbor set out several about 12 years ago. The birds love the many seeds they produce and now they are all over my yard and flower beds. They are almost impossible to pull up even if I could get to them. Plus, they are painful to touch. I hate them!!!!
Terrific! You added great value by including substitutes 👍🏻. Here in NC. I would add Liriope, Creeping Charlie and Vinca vines. Also, 4 O’Clocks.
The butterfly bush is called buddleia. If you prune it regularly it’s no problem. I can’t believe it’s on your list. It’s beneficial to wildlife. 🐝 🦋
it deserves to be on the list 👍👍
It fights with and sometimes wins over Scotch Broom and Bavarian knotweed in southwestern British Columbia, Washington & Oregon!
I was so proud when I got English Ivy to grow up a brick wall. When it started lifting the roof off the house, I whacked it off at the roots and picked roots off that wall.
Yikes!
I've heard it can damage the brick & mortar on a house as well. I have some along my back fence line. I've been fighting it for 3 years, haven't got it killed off yet
@@jessieyork4508 You might try pouring straight vinegar onto the roots when you cut it back. There’s a form of vinegar which higher acid content sometimes used for this purpose.
@@deepost2604 ok, I'll try it. Thank you!
@@deepost2604do you suppose trumpet vine might hate strong vinegar also?
I must have (by fortunate mistake) purchased a sterile butterfly bush -- it's been in the same place for over 10 years and I haven't seen a sprout anywhere else in my yard!
Most of these plants aren't a problem where I live so I was really surprised to see barberry and burning bush on the list. I appreciate the way alternate plants are listed.
Goutweed, Chinese Lantern & Pampas Grass are giving me a lot of work trying to eradicate them.
I live in the desert ---just getting anything to grow would be amazing!
Right?! I watched this to figure what plants I Should try growing 😅
Try Sedum, Lavender or Columbine. I tend to over water and these three do not like it.
I don't live in the desert and it is so sandy it is hard to get anything to grow! However Lilly of the valley loves it.
I would send you some English Ivy, but I trashed 🗑 it!!
English Ivy, took over 10 years to get rid of it, but just this spring I found it coming back after 3 years. My next door neighbor was not happy as it was growing on a shared fence he had helped clear...
I have absolutely terrible soil-- it doesn't perc and is extremely alkaline. A burning bush actually DIED in my front yard. Lily of the valley is barely making it and butterfly bush will only grow in raised beds.
Along with honeysuckle, wisteria is another beautiful but horrendously invasive species in my area. That definitely goes on my list. I am a little disappointed that when talking of the bamboo, though, you didn't mention native giant river cane. It's harder to find for sale, but it's a native 'bamboo' that hosts several bird & insect species that are currently in danger of extinction because of the decline of the native 'canebreak' areas. It looks closer to decorative bamboos than other grasses and the species could really use the boost of people adding it to their landscapes.
Morning Glories are super invasive!!! Them things grow like weeds! 😫
Still fighting the wisteria our former neighbor planted over 30+ years ago. They may have thought it would look like Tiffany’s stained glass; all it’s been is an invasive, choking PIA. 🙄
Hey,I'm in GA,that wisteria's a tree killer,man.
Omg. I have two wisteria plants that I have to constantly keep in check and my next door neighbor has a wall of English ivy. The battle is real.
Wisteria is not “a species”. It is a genus of several species. The very showy and common Asian ones are invasive in the USA, but species and varieties of American ones like Amethyst Falls are not
I just bought two cameleon plants at the plant nursery because they are so pretty.. You can bet, after watching this video, they will be taking out of my flower bed.. asap.. thank you.. Also, that evening primrose, in the yellow version, is popping up everywhere.. what an impressive plant.. It is in my border walls and adds a really beautiful look to my Japanese garden.. I have been pulling out young plants where i don't want it, but you can sure see how it is invasive.. thank you for this info.. I have been at my place for a little over a year now, and this plant is new to me.. Just started growing in my garden this summer.. Never have seen it before, and seeing it outside in the neighbourhood.. We live in a wooded area, so we have sooo many different native flowering plants.. It is very interesting to see what comes up and flowers... Thank you foryour very informative video!!
I am so glad this video caught you right in the nick of time! I still find this plant all over my landscape beds no matter how many times I pull it out. - Amy
My neighbor planted the chameleon plant and boy did he regret it.
I would like to think a local nursery would not sell invasive plants for that area. How disappointing
Make sure you remove every scrap of root.
If I was buying a property and I saw even a single chameleon plant on it that would be a deal breaker. Nope, nope, and nope.
I would add Vinca Minor. It's sold in every nursery, but once in your garden, it takes over and spreads everywhere. Getting it out is a major Pain-in-the-B....
No. 11 Harebell! We had a single plant show up in our landscape many years ago and thought the hanging bell flowers we very attractive. The plant is now invading the yard and nearby woods. The rhizomes make it impossible to remove fully. I keep it somewhat under control pulling it from the woodland garden area but throughout the yard cutting and spraying with broadleaf herbicide just slows it down. Any patches found in other areas get covered with a sheet of EPDM rubber (leftover from a project) and it eventually dies. Our Mulberry tree is also posing a problem with new tree shoots popping up all over our property. We’re in Northeast Wisconsin
Lemon balm too! Took over my garden very quickly.
Well it is a mint, and all mint are invasive.
I had a neighbor plant raspberry bushes in their backyard. Within two years, everyone had little raspberry bushes popping up all over the place, even in my porch's gutters (thanks to the birds). It's now at the point where my lower back yard is the forbidden forest of hellish thorns and almost unedible raspberries on thickets all of which are taller than I am. The only thing that is choking them out is the super invasive Japense Knotweed that is the other bane of my existence.
Japanese Knotweed--a nightmare for sure in NW Oregon. AND English Ivy and Scotch Broom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've been battling lily of the valley for years... also when i bought my house i pulled out several holly bushes... I'm still finding runners and new starts from those nasty things! Horseradish is awful and honestly i have locust trees that are nasty too... if a branch breaks off you'll find runners growing on the other side of your yard for years! 😵💫🥺
Holly grows wild around here and it is the "rare" bush in the forest. Hmmmm.....
Creeping Jenny.... looks great but very much a pain to control. At least it's easier to pull out than some of the others!
It. is considered invasive in Montana and definitely not sold anywhere.
Yes, and I couldn't believe it when my wife bought Creeping Jenny two years ago at Walmart. At least she put it in a planter.
We have some in the front yard, now it’s sprouting up in the neighbor’s yard!
Thank you, thank you thank you. We need to regenerate our native ecosystems. It is really essential to the survival not just a Plans but if insects and birds and other species that are all interrelated.
Thank you for offering alternatives to the plants you list.
I live in Canada in Zone 3, like Minnesota: cold. I have seen neglected flowerbeds packed with “Campanula Glomerata” or Clustered Bellflower, which has pretty purple heads of bells. Once you have it, you will never be without it. The Garden centres do mention it “spreads rapidly in rich soils.” Others you will have a hard time getting rid of: Yarrow, (that overtakes the lawn, with spreading roots and seeds), as well as Lamium, Lemon Balm, Bachelor’s Buttons, Virginia Creeper, Tansy, and others that I noticed are still sold by garden centres, including Baby’s Breath (not including the pink ground cover type) and Snow in Summer. I depend on the more prolific “survivors” and reseeding/spreading/perennial nature of plants to fill up the flower garden (like Blue Flax, Viola, Chinese Forget-me-nots, Dill, Candytuft, Wild ferns, Poppies, Cosmos, Artemisia) and have given up on completely eradicating Yarrow. Some of these plants have seeded themselves happily in the drainage rocks around the foundation of the house, so obviously do not need a lot of care. Edit; I forgot to mention it is a good idea to add some native growing flowers for the bees and butterflies, like Milkweed, wild bellflowers, non-spreading Goldenrod, wild Asters, Blanketflower, Black-eyed Susans.
Milkweed will come up everywhere. It showed up in my garden by it's self now it's everywhere 😢
Yes to natives! Replace what we are eradicating from our environment.
Hello fellow zone 3 gardener! My mom calls the blue bells "hell's bells" they are destroying our creek 😢
@@ah7smpa853milkweed attracts butterflies. The butterflies lay their eggs on them then you have caterpillars that will eat them up and then the final stage of butterflies. The plants grow back easily. I have milkweeds but they aren’t spreading on their own yet and I want them to as I’m raising and releasing monarch butterflies because they are endangered. And it’s a real fun project.
Lemon Balm! OMG, it took me years to get rid of that.
Thank you for supplying alternative plants to plant in the place of the invasive ones.❤
I live in Texas, and my soil is sand. I love 4 O'clocks. I planted a few and low and behold they have become very invasive, and have tried taking over my acre yard. I'm constantly literally digging them up. The roots as big as large cabbages. Be careful where you plant them.
Never heard of a 4 o'clock so I looked it up. They look pretty, thanks for the warning I won't plant any of them.
They are terrible spreaders!
I live in southern Dallas County. I appreciate your warning and will try to corral the 4 o’clocks that have appeared at the front of my yard.
When Mom had a garden, she would plant 4 o’clocks every year. We lived in NJ.
I had grown 4 o'clock flowers for years with minimal success.😮
I appreciate you give an alternative. In my own yard I have been trying for 15 years to get rid of burning bush planted by the previous owner. Just awful!
Garlic chives! I'm in zone 5b. If they go to seed and they take root good, they are difficult to pull out. I hate using Roundup but don't bother with that anyway, it doesn't work. Burying them doesn't work. Drowning them doesn't work. They're like Michael Myers in the Halloween movies. Next season, they'll be back, mocking you worse than ever.
VLASAC JE JESTIVA BILJKA IZ PORODICE LUKA I ZDRAVA JE
eat it😊
Interesting video. Good to see that you have recommended alternatives to these plants. Good details on why each plant is invasive and where. Another plant to watch out for in many parts of the country, especially the North Central and Northwest is Spurge. Leafy Spurge is a terribly invasive plant in this area and its relatives spread quite well too. Where I live in Las Vegas, NV, many of these won't survive outside of irrigated areas, but if you have a home or property near one of the remaining wetlands in the area, some of these plants can invade such areas. Some palm trees have become a bit of a weed problem here, especially Canary Island Date Palm. Their seed grows very well in irrigated places and the trees need pulled out of lawns, flowerbeds and next to building foundations before they get too big.
A plant can be native and also weedy in a particular area. If it’s native, by definition it can’t be invasive, even if it’s weedy in your garden.
Thank You. I did not know this very useful bit of information. So the key is to only buy native plants to your specific area. Is this why my milkweed isn’t spreading? I have to propagate it myself.
@@denisef1153, in my experience milkweed can be difficult to establish but is very vigorous in suitable conditions once established.
@@nancymathisen9707 ahhh they are not established. Just a few months old. some are not even a full month. Thanks.
Thank you and I live in 9a, 85+ miles away from Phoenix AZ. I'm now subscribed to your channel.
SO TRUE Cameleon plant I bought as a new home owner learning to garden. It seemed so colorful and small it took over my garden.
I live in Austin- nandina/heavenly bamboo and ligustrum/chinese privet are extremely invasive and very tough to eradicate. Sad to say, you can still buy them in the big box stores. Four O'Clocks are native to Mexico, so tolerate Austin weather and are perennials here. However, they require a bit of care to thrive, so I don't consider them invasive. A month of 105 degrees without rain will kill them, but not nandina nor ligustrum. Our big freeze of Feb 2021 semi-killed many of the ligustrum, but most regenerated dozens of shoots from the base of the trunk not unlike the Hydra of mythology. Nandina was totally unaffected.
I found out, after not realizing I should have looked it up before just cutting it down... Nandina's roots/rhizomes get the signal that damage has occurred and sends out new growth in another spot. My back bed was RIFE with the things... Now that I know, I took a suggestion from the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center re: ending nandina w/o getting lots of new plants: VERY VERY careful application of the glyphosate concentrate that shall not be named to a freshly cut stalk. THAT ends the nandina...it takes some time but it works! Over the last year, I'd take an hour or so every so often, double-gloved up, grabbed a disposable little brush, my cutters and set-to in a particular part of the back bed. More to go, but the amount of nandinas is GREATLY reduced. I want them all gone. Trying to intersperse natives where the nandinas have been gone for a bit.
I have just spent a couple of weeks digging up my garden to get rid of Bell flower (Campanula). It was taking over the whole garden.
People don't know these info before planting, so there are so many messy gardens which cost a lot to make it clean. This forecasting info is useful.
It depends on where you are. Several of the plants on this list won't grow at all in some climates I've lived in. Others were common, but this is the first time I've heard them referred to as a problem. Some "native" plants are a huge nuisance as well. Just because a plant is native doesn't mean it's necessarily a great plant or that you want a ton of it all over. A weed is any plant growing where you don't want it and a desirable plant is any plant growing where you want it.
Exactly I'm in zone 8b Georgia and after our brutal summers hardly anything other than what's native is alive in my yard
I made the mistake of planting lemon balm & it is still popping up everywhere! Biggest regret that I have EVER planted!
Oh no! This one I just found out is from the mint family. I will have to be on the top of it in my flower bed.
Lets not forget about St Johns Wort, Seattle Washington. I spent 8 yrs in a rockery to no avail.... 😢
Western WA has so many. My friend bought a house with an overgrown garden filled with classic nightmares. English ivy Himalayan blackberry Silver lamium Bindweed (worse than morning glories i think.) Bitter nightshade. The list goes on.... I've helped her battle them.
Great info! Thanks!! In Michigan- vinca vine, mint, morning glory and hummingbird vine, have all caused trouble. It took 15 years to eliminate the vinca in one flower bed. The hummingbird vine I thought would just grow big and bushy but it really spreads!! The vines I find are no where near the original planting site.
Thank you for posting, such an important topic! It’s pretty upsetting what the garden centers still sell - Callery Pear is very easy to buy in my area, despite it being such an ecological disaster! ❤
Chinese Privet is the biggest mistake I have ever made. Those bushes are all over our property. I have acres of the stuff ( they are a LOT harder to pull up than mint) and to my horror they are taking over the land for miles around. My first plant was given to me by a master gardener saying they were so easy to propagate and get started. She didn’t tell me once you have one you will have thousands 😢.
This is a noxious weed! A real problem in central NC as it grows wherever it wants. I’m a Master Gardener Volunteer (emeritus) and the BEST ADVICE is to do your research before you buy plants! USDA has a helpful website. So sorry you were misled! 😢
Hopefully the definition of "master gardener" has change to someone who is much more aware of of these ecological issues.
@@TheJhtlag Totally agree with you!
Thank you for this important information, I do not understand why the Garden center do not add a special note regarding those invasive plants, I will take it to my 1st consideration before I buy a new plants. 😊👌👍
Love that you explaining the invasive species and then discuss options that are safer
I dearly love my lily of the valley. Of course, it's contained in a concrete area between my house and garage but I have heard horror stories about how invasive it can be. It really smells wonderful in the spring when it blooms.
Go for native species that benefit pollinators in your area. They also won’t be invasive, although some can be aggressive.
There are 2 plants that I have had to take out of my yard. One is "snow on the mountain", a ground cover which I removed about 6 years ago and I am still finding it occasionally. The other is the "trumpet vine". It was a hardy fast growing vine but eventually became invasive. Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Trumpet Vine!!! It was here when I bought my house, and I have been battling it for 25 years.
We have a massive problem with Rhodedendron ponticum in the UK. It pretty much kills everything else and is very difficult to eradicate,
Fantastic video. Mentioning alternative plants is a huge help.
This is great information. As soon as I saw the Fish Mint, I knew that I'd be drawn in. I bought a house in December and I'm dealing with that stinky and annoying plant. The smelly roots go EVERYWHERE. Nothing has helped except Roundup, but I know that's a carcinogen, so I try to avoid it. Also, I had planted some English Ivy, but now I'm going to pull that up. Thanks!
I've had the cranberry color butterfly bush for about 5 years or more and it has only had normal to slow growth. Zone 6 It's my second year w a pink Veronica and she is multiplying all around herself!
The chameleon plant is a very invasive in the UK and I found out this myself. It also has a really unpleasant smell when you break it! The butterfly bush is spreads all over by seed on land that is poor and dry where other plants struggle, but it a fantastic plant for butterflies so a positive benefit. Bamboo is grass on steroids again I learnt this from experience, choose one that clumps and it should be OK. The rest on your list here in the UK are not such a big issue. i wish lily of the valley would be a bit more evasive.
Yes, I’ve planted lily of the valley here in the Bay Area, California, at multiple homes and not one lived through the season!
I get baby butterfly bushes that grow in the cracks between wood boards on my deck 😂. It's not really been a problem though, and I love sitting on the porch watching all the bees and butterflies who visit.
You’re welcome to my expanding areas of lily of the valley. I made the mistake of planting some 30 years ago in one flower bed. It has expanded into most of my flower beds, and the lawn. My husband spend a week cleaning out a 2’ x 6’ section this spring from the bed where I’d originally planted it. The roots made a mesh net 8” thick which he had to dry out in chunks so he could shake the dirt out. Just awful stuff! Still love the little flowers, but not worth it!
@@llm5726 Sounds like Violets (Viola riviniana) in my garden which infest everywhere. Still want my Lilly of the Valley but clearly I don't have a woodland type climate for them. Sometimes the battle to force plants to thrive is too much as I have with blue poppies which need similar.
The chameleon plant was just as awful for me in California. We moved recently to a house with bamboo that is sprouting everywhere 😢
Thank you. Great narration Amy. I have been admiring wisteria for a while but the day before I was going to plant them someone had posted a video on wisteria. Until then I had no idea how invasive it was. I ended up not planting them. Nice save.
I live in 7B (western NC). My nemesis is the english ivy. It is literally killing trees on my property. Already had to take down 3 dead pines before they fell on my house. I cut it down almost daily, but most of the ivy has a base the size of a small tree trunk. UGH!
Thanks for sharing that not all are invasive everywhere. Butterfly bush (Buddleia alternifolia) is actually native to my state. My parents still have Burning Bush that they bought back in the '80s. They cut it back to keep it in check but it would just spread forever if they let it. -- I have lamium (dead nettles) which are pretty but I was silly and didn't know it was in the mint family (lamiacae should have given it away) so it grows like wildfire. I put it in a raised bed and it's taken over everything, kindly choking out my heuchera (coral bells) and I don't think my Dutchman's Breeches even came up this spring because the lamium was so far spread. It's not technically invasive but that mint family goes bananas with spreading.
I bought my house a few years ago. There was a large growth of English Ivy between my house and the neighbor (they had lived in their house for 25 years) which covered the 6' fence and extended another 20' high and 15' into my yard. We spent the first few months removing it and discovered 3 cedar trees that were being suffocated by the ivy (we weren'tin time, they died). The neighbor never realized the cedar trees were there since the ivy was already covering them when they moved in. At first I was cutting the vines off from several "trees" that were as big around as my leg only to discover that the "tree trunks" were actually English Ivy vines. 2 years of attacking the ivy was necessary before it was finally irradiated.
From my experience in VA, I would add Mimosa and Crown Vetch.
SC here the mimosas is a true pain. I have to cut them down than poison, but it seems there are 2 to replace any one I kill. Smh
CROWN VETCH IS GREAT FOR SLOPES THAT YOU CAN'T NOW
Crown Vetch will be the death of me.
So useful. Thank you. I was going to get English ivy. Now ill go get a climbing hydrangea
I have snow drop that look very similar to lily of the valley but is in the daffodil family, it comes up year after year without overtaking the bed.
I live in MA and have experience with several of these plants. My #1 menace in my garden is the sweet Creeping Jenny/Charlie. I saw it in my Mom's yard and without a thought brought some home. What the heck was I thinking! I've now spent decades trying to eliminate this HORRIBLY invasive vine from my garden.
Yeah that stuff is horrible-- only chemicals seem to kill it. I pull iy by hand if I see ANY in my gardens...still there are some millimeter size roots which re-sprout 😥
Butterfly Bush is not invasive in all climates and they are awesome!
Thought it would be awesome to see a field of these covered by butterflies
Mine all died
Grows like a weed in the UK. Sprouts out of the sides of buildings and invades any crack, anywhere.
It grows all along the roadsides and creeping up to and onto the Appalachian trail zone 6 in PA. How is that not invasive.
I had vinca vine one year as a trailing plant in a pot and it rooted itself all over the place! Not as bad as the ones you have mentioned but wish I never bought it. It was was of the first plants I bought when beginning gardening and did not know better not to let it touch the ground. Unfortunately we learn from our mistakes. 😑
I live in a wooded are of the PNW and bought my property 30 years ago. The previous owner used vinca as a ground cover in several areas and it is so hard to remove! Anywhere that I decide to plant flowers I have days of exhausting digging to do to get rid of it and it is impossible to get it all out!
I like vinca vine and creeping jenny. Im all for ground cover. Better than crabgrass.
I constantly battle with vinca, as I inherited it with house.
please remember that you tube is a world wide site and many of plants are not a problem in areas outside the USA.
or, indeed, within many rocky alkaline soil states inside the USA. The things they say not to plant are things I absolutely would plant in Colorado on the chance they will survive.
Thank you for educating me and others on this topic. Great information! Yes, why do garden centers sell these plants? We have the Japanese honeysuckle in our neighborhood. It is awfu!
I live in Southern California. I bought a pretty purple-flowering plant one time that I later regretted. What a minute! I’m still regretting it years later! It’s the Mexican petunia or Ruellia simplex or brittoniana. It has been described as being reviled for its eagerness to spread with abandon. Some of the info I’ve found about it discusses how resilient the seeds are. I haven’t had that experience. But it readily grows to 6’ tall or more and spreads by underground roots. If any portion of the roots are overlooked when removing the plant, it will regrow. I have had it come up some 6 feet away from where it had been planted and removed. I like to call it the devil plant! 😮
I also have this plant. It can be trimmed into cute balls BUT it spreads like crazy. And when watered the seed heads explode to spread seeds.
I have this in Florida but it doesn’t get that big. It’s easily controlled.
@@Dbb27 funny how a plant is invasive in one part of the country and NOT in others? All has to do with growing conditions!
A neighbor gave me some Mexican petunia and warned me it is invasive. I kept it in a pit, but that doesn’t stop it. I learned the hard way to HATE English ivy. I have to poison the kudzu every summer in GA. Got slimed by poison ivy while attacking the kudzu. I bought Russian sage in CO because it was drought resistant. What a mistake!
I have both the tall and the small varieties. The tall ones are highly invasive in Texas. I'm still trying to remove them after years. The dwarf one does spread but it doesn't have as vigorous growth as the bigger Mexican petunia.
Thanks for including alternatives. Just subscribed!
worked as a landscaper in the 2000's up till 2011 in Ohio and im fairly sure i planted almost every single one of those plants , the Bradford pear , burning bush , and Barberry was staples we used on nearly every job.
I can understand Ivy being on this list. We moved into a house with ivy being used as ground coverage and 5 years later, I'm still trying to eradicate it from my property so I can replace it with clover. That and Virginia creeper. The creeper will literally strangle my roses to death if I don't pull it out. I can't find the root system anywhere, it just keeps growing.
Trumpet Vine is highly invasive and will take over everything. I made that mistake and am now trying to get rid of the blasted plants.
Glad you warned me. I was going to buy some to plant near my new fence!
For me its been stonecrop here in south Michigan. I can't stop it from travelling!
Spread the word and not the weed!!! Thank you for this!!!
Thanks for this. You have saved me from some big mistakes.