Following is a list of plants to avoid. You’ll see many of them in established gardens, introduced into the nursery trade as ornamental landscape plants. Unfortunately they’re running amok in our natural areas and crowding out native vegetation.
We encourage you NOT to buy or plant these plants, and to urge your local nursery or garden center NOT to sell them.
This is just a partial list, covering some invasive plants common to home landscapes and woodlots. A comprehensive listing of problem plants is here: Indiana Invasive Species Council Plant List.
INPS sponsors an incentive program that encourages retailers to sell native plants and NOT sell invasives: Grow Indiana Natives.
Forbs
crown vetch Coronilla varia
dame’s rocket Hesperis matronalis
Korean lespedeza Kummerowia stipulacea
striate lespedeza Kummerowia striata
white sweet clover Melilotus alba
yellow sweet clover Melilotus officinalis
Japanese knotweed Polygonum cuspidatum
Grasses
miscanthus hybrid Micscanthus x gigantea
Chinese maiden grass Miscanthus sinensis
reed canarygrass, ribbon grass Phalaris arundinacea
common reed Phragmites australis
tall fescue Schedonorus arundinaceus
Shrubs
Japanese barberry Berberis thunbergii See why
Russian olive Elaeagnus angustifolia
autumn olive Elaeagnus umbellata
burning bush Euonymus alatus
glossy buckthorn Frangula alnus
bicolor lespedeza Lespedeza bicolor
sericea lespedeza Lespedeza cuneata
Amur privet Ligustrum amurense
blunt leaved privet Ligustrum obtusifolium
California privet Ligustrum ovalifolium
Chinese privet Ligustrum sinense
common privet Ligustrum vulgare
Amur honeysuckle Lonicera maackii
Morrow’s honeysuckle Lonicera morrowii
Tatarian honeysuckle Lonicera tatarica
Bell’s honeysuckle Lonicera x bella
common buckthorn Rhamnus cathartica
Trees
Norway maple Acer platanoides
callery pear Pyrus calleryana
sawtooth oak Quercus acutissima
Siberian elm Ulmus pumila
Vines
Asian bittersweet Celastrus orbiculatus
wintercreeper Euonymus fortunei
English ivy Hedera helix
Japanese hops Humulus japonicus
Japanese honeysuckle Lonicera japonica
periwinkle Vinca minor
