Everywhere around us, trees are leafing out, grass is growing taller, and flowers of all kinds are blooming. Nurseries across Martha’s Vineyard are having huge plant sales, and there are plenty of grass-roots plant sales going on as well. This sudden greening of the landscape and the seasonal push to get things into the ground often triggers the impulse to start adding to your yard. It’s exactly the moment that raises the question behind “10 Plants NOT to Grow in Your Yard.” So before you bring home something new, accept a gifted plant from a friend, or try to propagate any of the plants on this list from your own stock, it’s worth asking not just what will grow well, but what truly belongs in an ecologically sound landscape.
Many of the plants we’ve come to think of as fixtures in our home landscape, while purportedly “non-invasive,” are not exactly harmless. Introduced for their beauty, hardiness, or ease of cultivation, many exotic ornamentals, while not rampantly invasive, can and do escape their backyard borders, spreading into forests, wetlands, meadows, coastal habitats, and beyond. If you are familiar with the phrase "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" when you apply that saying to your yard, it is more like "What happens in your yard, does NOT stay in your yard!"
The plants I am recommending against today are some of the most prevalent “garden staples” we consistently find populating landscaped beds around homes during our Natural Neighbors yard visits. These plants offer little nutritional or habitat value for birds, pollinators, and other wildlife. A few even carry hidden ecological consequences, such as the potential spread of plant diseases and the proliferation of non-native pests.
Choosing native plants instead helps support healthier ecosystems, protects local biodiversity, and creates landscapes that are bountiful and ecologically resilient. Taken from our own site visit experience, here are ten of the most commonly planted species that we recommend thinking twice about, along with native alternatives that share the same aesthetic value without the ecological cost.
1) Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis)
Lily of the Valley
With its delicate white bell-shaped flowers and sweet fragrance, along with the way it fills in shady spaces, Lily of the Valley has long been a favorite shade garden perennial. Native to Europe and Asia, however, it spreads aggressively by underground rhizomes, forming dense colonies that crowd out all native woodland plants. Once established, it can be extremely difficult to remove.
In addition to its invasive tendencies, every part of the plant is toxic if ingested, containing powerful cardiac glycosides that can be harmful to people and pets.
Consider native alternatives such as the charismatic Canada mayflower (Maianthemum canadense) or beautifully arching Starry False Solomon’s Seal (Maianthemum stellatum). Both are beautiful native, shade loving woodland plants that support pollinators and coexist naturally within forest ecosystems.
2) Lesser Periwinkle (Vinca minor)
Vinca minor. Photo: Peter Friedman
Lesser periwinkle is commonly planted as a low-maintenance, evergreen groundcover, prized for its glossy leaves and purple-blue flowers. Unfortunately, its vigorous creeping stems take root wherever they touch the soil, allowing this plant to subversively spread rapidly into forests and natural areas. Dense mats of Vinca suppress native plants, reduce biodiversity, and provide little value for pollinators or wildlife. Because it tolerates deep shade and poor soils, lesser periwinkle often escapes gardens and overwhelms delicate woodland habitats.
Consider native alternatives such as Wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) which spreads well on it's own, or evergreen and aromatic Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) which produces colorful bright red berries that last into the winter. These are native groundcovers that provide nectar, fruit, and habitat benefits while remaining ecologically balanced.
3) Pachysandra a.k.a. Japanese mountain-spurge (Pachysandra terminalis)
Pachysandra
Japanese pachysandra has become one of the most widely planted evergreen groundcovers in suburban landscapes. Its dense, carpet-like growth may seem attractive, but it spreads aggressively through underground stems and crowds out all native vegetation. In shaded woodlands, it can create monocultures that prevent native wildflowers and tree seedlings from regenerating. Pachysandra is also another plant that offers little food or habitat value for native insects and wildlife.
Consider native alternatives such as low-growing American wintergreen (Pyrola americana) or the woodland Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) which brightens shady spaces with it's delicate purple flowers in the spring. These are also native groundcovers that provide nectar, fruit, and habitat benefits while remaining ecologically balanced.
4) Orange Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva)
Orange Daylily. Photo: Stephen Little
This perennial favorite may turn heads with it's bright beauty, but it can become a serious problem in the landscape. Originally introduced from Asia as an ornamental, this aggressive lily spreads rapidly through thick underground tubers and dense clumps that crowd out native wildflowers, grasses, and young shrubs. Once established, it is difficult to remove and easily escapes gardens into roadsides, meadows, wetlands, and woodland edges, where it reduces plant diversity and offers relatively little value to native pollinators and wildlife.
Consider native alternatives such as the even more beautiful, and native, Turk's Cap Lily (Lilium superbum), which provides brilliant orange-spotted summer blooms that attract hummingbirds and pollinators, or Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor), a beautiful native iris well-suited to moist gardens and naturalized landscapes.
5) Seedum, a.k.a Purple orpine (Hylotelephium telephium)
Sedum. Photo: Cobalt123
Purple orpine, often sold as “sedum,” is a fleshy succulent perennial valued for its drought tolerance and late-season flower clusters. Though attractive, non-native sedums can escape cultivation into disturbed habitats, where they compete with native species adapted to poor soils. Its cultivars, which come in many varieties, also provide limited ecological value compared to native flowering perennials. While pollinators may visit the blooms, the plant contributes little to the broader food web.
Consider native alternatives such as vibrant Orange butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) which we enjoy a local abundance of here on Martha's Vineyard, or Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), whose flowers resemble those of sedum in form and color. Both of these natives provide critical nectar and pollen for migrating pollinators and are host plants for our beloved Monarch butterfly.
6) Spiraea, a.k.a. Japanese Meadowsweet (Spiraea japonica)
Spiraea. Photo: David Stang
Japanese spiraea is widely used in foundation plantings because of its colorful flowers and compact form. Native to Asia, it readily escapes cultivation and colonizes roadsides, meadows, wetlands, and forest edges. It spreads aggressively by seed and can quickly dominate disturbed habitats, displacing native shrubs and herbaceous plants. Once established, it forms dense thickets that reduce plant diversity and alter wildlife habitat.
Consider native alternatives such as Steeplebush (Spiraea tomentosa) which boasts stunning, candlelike flowers, or gracefully intricate White meadowsweet (Spiraea alba). These native Spiraeas provide nectar for pollinators while fitting naturally into local ecosystems as host plants for spring azure butterflies, apple sphinx moth, and cecropia moths.
7) Beach Rose (Rosa rugosa)
Beach Rose. Photo: W. Carter
With fragrant pink flowers, bright red rose hips, and exceptional salt tolerance, rugosa rose has become ubiquitous along coastal New England landscapes. Because of it's familiarity, people are often surprised to learn that it is not native to North America. Introduced from Asia in the 1700s, for it's erosion control capabilities, it spreads aggressively through underground runners and by seed dispersed in floating rose hips. Along beaches and dunes, it forms dense thickets that crowd out native coastal vegetation important for dune stability and wildlife habitat.
In your landscape, consider native alternatives such as fragrant Virginia rose (Rosa virginiana) or the compact Pasture rose (Rosa carolina). These native roses provide excellent wildlife value without overwhelming coastal ecosystems.
8) Butterfly Bush (Buddleja davidii)
Buttefly Bush. Photo: David Strauch
Butterfly bush is one of the most popular plantings one can find in a suburban yard, often the first purchase of some one who is trying to do some good for pollinators. It is known for its long spikes of fragrant flowers that attract adult butterflies and bees.
However, despite its extremely successful and marketable name, it is not a host plant for butterfly caterpillars, meaning it does not support the full butterfly life cycle. In many regions it spreads aggressively by seed into disturbed habitats, streambanks, and roadsides, where it displaces native vegetation. Its rapid growth and prolific seeding can make it difficult to control.
Consider native alternatives such as a true favorite of our native butterflies, Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium purpureum), or a real pollinator powerhouse like the lovely fragrant Sweet Pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia). These native host plants provide nectar as well as essential habitat for pollinators and birds.
9) Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus)
Rose of Sharon is a large, flowering shrub commonly planted for its tropical-looking blooms and tolerance of poor soils. Native to Asia, it readily self-seeds in landscape beds and natural areas, particularly on the Cape and Islands where the winters are typically mild. Seedlings can quickly establish in disturbed habitats, where they compete with native shrubs and native perennials. Although attractive to some generalist pollinators, this shrub lacks the ecological relationships that native Hibiscus species provide.
Rose of Sharon is also a preferred host plant of Japanese Beetles (Popillia japonica), a non-native insect that can wreak havoc in gardens and on other native plants, especially in those of the Hibiscus family.
Consider native alternatives such as stately Swamp rose-mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos) or showy Swamp rose (Rosa palustris). These spectacular native hibiscus species support native bees and thrive in wet or sunny landscapes.
10) Kousa Dogwood (Benthamidia japonica)
Kousa Dogwood
Kousa dogwood is widely admired for its showy white bracts, attractive bark, and ornamental fruit. It is extremely popular here on Martha's Vineyard but is native to East Asia, and is increasingly planted as an alternative to the native flowering dogwood. While not currently considered highly invasive (yet), it has begun naturalizing in parts of the eastern United States, and we have found them growing far into woodland edges here on Martha’s Vineyard. Compared to native dogwoods, it supports far fewer native insects, reducing its value to birds and local food webs.
Consider the slightly more understated Flowering dogwood (Benthamidia florida). This unsung hero of the plant kingdom is a native understory tree that is a “Keystone Species” as it supports over 100 species of native moth, butterfly and other insect species while offering exceptional seasonal beauty.
Choose to Grow in Harmony with Nature
Our landscape choices shape far more than the spaces immediately around our homes; they influence the health of entire ecosystems. Every plant we choose either contributes to the web of life or slowly unravels it. By replacing aggressive exotic ornamentals with native species, we create landscapes that nourish pollinators, support birds and wildlife, protect soil and water, and preserve the ecological character of our island.
Believe it or not, I am often told that native plants are ugly. Well, maybe not in those exact words, but the meaning behind the way some people talk to me about them is clear. I couldn't disagree more. Native plants are indeed beautiful as they invite us to revel in nature not only as an observer, but as a participant; they offer extraordinary flowers, textures, fragrances, and seasonal interest while also belonging to the places we call home.
Small decisions in our own yards can collectively have an enormous impact, helping restore habitat one yard at a time creating steppingstone for our wildlife traverese across a growing sea of troubled, fragmented landscapes. If you would like to learn how to make ecologically sound decisions in your little slice of paradise, visit our website by clicking HERE, and we will help get you started on your journey! We will visit you and personally share our knowledge and resources at no cost to you and find many other ways for you to support all the biodiversity in your yard.
