A lot of Maine's most damaging invasive plants got their start as landscape ornamentals — burning bush and Japanese barberry are still sold at some nurseries, and multiflora rose was once planted deliberately for erosion control. These species outcompete native vegetation, offer little food or shelter value to Maine wildlife, and in many cases spread from yards into surrounding woods and wetlands on their own. If you've got one of these in your yard, or you're planning new plantings and want to avoid them from the start, Maine has native equivalents that do the same landscaping job — screening, fall color, groundcover, erosion control — without the ecological cost. Every plant recommended below comes from Maine's list of verified native species.
As a quick reference, here's how the swaps break down before we get into detail on each:
- Burning bush → Ninebark or Red-Twig Dogwood
- Japanese barberry → Inkberry Holly or Fragrant Sumac
- Multiflora rose → Arrowwood Viburnum
- Autumn olive or common buckthorn → Serviceberry or Winterberry
- Oriental bittersweet or Japanese honeysuckle → Trumpet Honeysuckle or Virginia Creeper
- Purple loosestrife or yellow flag iris → Cardinal Flower, Swamp Milkweed, or Blue Vervain
- English ivy or goutweed → Wild Ginger, Foamflower, or Pennsylvania Sedge
Invasive Shrubs and Their Native Replacements
Burning bush is planted almost entirely for its red fall foliage, but Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) and Red-Twig Dogwood (Cornus sericea) both deliver comparable color along with things burning bush can't offer: Ninebark's peeling, multi-toned bark adds winter interest, and Red-Twig Dogwood's bright red stems are arguably more striking against snow than burning bush ever was in October. Japanese barberry, notorious for sheltering deer ticks in its dense low branches, has a solid substitute in Inkberry Holly (Ilex glabra) for a broadleaf evergreen look, or Fragrant Sumac (Rhus aromatica) where a low, spreading habit is the goal. For the dense, thorny screening people once relied on multiflora rose for, Arrowwood Viburnum (Viburnum dentatum) makes an equally effective hedge, with the bonus of spring flower clusters and fall berries actually worth eating — for birds, if not for you. Where autumn olive or common buckthorn have been used for a quick fruiting screen, Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) and Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) both offer better wildlife food value and none of the aggressive reseeding.
Invasive Vines and Native Climbers
Few invasives cause more visible damage in Maine than Oriental bittersweet and Japanese honeysuckle, both of which strangle trees and shrubs as they climb. Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is the obvious native swap for the honeysuckle vine — it climbs a trellis or fence just as eagerly, without the invasive spread, and its red-orange tubular flowers draw hummingbirds all summer, unlike the paler, less showy invasive version. Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) is the better choice where you want fast coverage of a fence, arbor, or bare slope; its foliage turns a deep red-purple in fall that rivals bittersweet's berries for color, minus the girdled trees.
Invasive Wetland Plants and Native Alternatives
Wet, low-lying spots are especially vulnerable to invasion, since purple loosestrife and yellow flag iris both spread readily through Maine's ditches, pond edges, and wet meadows once established. A native wet-soil planting can replace either one and support far more wildlife: Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) and Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) both want the same soggy soil loosestrife tolerates, with red and blue flower spikes respectively that hummingbirds and bees actually use. Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) and Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata) fill the same niche with pink and purple-blue flowers, Spotted Joe-Pye Weed (Eutrochium maculatum) brings height and a haze of dusty pink bloom that loosestrife can't match for pollinator traffic, and Common Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) and Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) round out a wet-meadow planting with white bloom clusters — Buttonbush's perfectly spherical flower heads are one of the more distinctive shrubs you can put at a pond's edge.
Invasive Groundcovers and Native Replacements
English ivy and goutweed, also sold as bishop's weed, both escape cultivation readily and smother the woodland floor plants they're meant to imitate. Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) and Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) both form a dense, low mat in shade without the runaway spread, and Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pensylvanica) works as a genuine lawn alternative under trees where ivy is often used to hide bare soil. In sunnier spots, Creeping Phlox (Phlox subulata) covers a slope or edge with spring color that neither ivy nor goutweed can offer. These four are only a starting point — our full Maine native plant directory includes several more sun and shade groundcovers worth considering depending on your site.
Removing the Invasive Before You Plant the Native
Pulling an invasive shrub and dropping a native in the same hole rarely works on the first try. Multiflora rose, barberry, and honeysuckle will all resprout from root fragments left behind, so plan on cutting stumps low and either digging out the root ball or treating the cut stump directly, ideally before the plant sets seed or fruit for the year. Never add cut invasive material to a brush pile or compost — vines and rooted stems can resprout there and spread further; bag and trash it, or check whether your town offers invasive plant disposal at the transfer station. Give the area a full season to make sure nothing resprouts before investing in native replacements, and expect to spot-check for another year or two afterward. It's worth the effort: native shrubs like Winterberry and Arrowwood Viburnum offer genuinely nutritious fruit for migrating and overwintering birds, while the berries on invasives like buckthorn and autumn olive are comparatively low in the fat content birds need to survive — for more on what Maine's birds actually rely on through the seasons, see our guide to Maine birds.