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Invasive Tree
Berberis thunbergii · Japanese Barberry
Current Invaded Range: Maine to Manitoba, south to Georgia and Kansas
Native Alternative
Fothergilla gardenii · Witch Alder
Attributes at a Glance
Fothergilla gardenii
- Small shrub with rounded to mounding form
- 3 to 5 feet tall and wide
- Fuzzy white terminal flower clusters in early spring
- Oval, scalloped foliage
- Orange to burgundy fall color
Native Habitat and Range
Native Habitat and Range Pine flatwoods, savannas, and pond margins from North Carolina, south to Florida and Alabama
Hardiness Range
Zones 5 to 8
Ornamental Attributes and Uses
The fragrant white bottlebrush flowers of witch alder are borne in early spring at the tips of wispy branches. The softly hairy, gray-green foliage turns flaming orange to burgundy in autumn, and the twiggy, zigzag stems provide winter interest. This upright oval to rounded shrub can be used as a hedge, in mass plantings, foundations, and as an underplanting for shade and flowering trees in naturalized settings. It grows three to five feet tall and wide. Older plants are more open and spreading.
Growing Tips
Plant in humus-rich, well-drained acidic soil in full sun or partial shade. Witch alder is intolerant of limy soils as well as waterlogged conditions; it is drought tolerant once established. Its foliage develops its best color in full sun. This shrub is slow growing and maintains an even, symmetrical shape and seldom needs pruning. Don’t shear it or you will destroy the form.
Related Alternative
Fothergilla major, mountain witch alder, is a larger species in every respect, with stout stems reaching 6 to 15 feet tall and wide. The broad, oval foliage has exceptional beauty and excellent autumn color. It is found in the mountains from North Carolina to Georgia and Alabama.
Native Alternative
Ceanothus americanus · New Jersey Tea
Attributes at a Glance
Ceanothus americanus
- Mounding to spreading form
- One to three feet tall and two to four feet wide
- Terminal white flower clusters in late spring and summer
- Deep green foliage
- Yellow autumn color
Native Habitat and Range
Open woods, rocky slopes, barrens, prairies, and roadsides from Quebec and Minnesota, south to Florida and Texas
Hardiness Range
Zones 3 to 9
Ornamental Attributes and Uses
This subtle but attractive and very adaptable shrub has tight, elongated terminal clusters of small white flowers in late spring and summer. The flowers are magnets to insects. The quilted oval leaves with finely toothed margins—once used as a substitute for tea—turn clear yellow in autumn. Use New Jersey tea in meadows, prairies, and borders or en masse on slopes. The stems are upright to somewhat sprawling and form a mounding crown one to three feet tall and two to four feet wide.
Growing Tips
Plant in moist, sandy or loamy soil in full sun or light shade. The plant’s deep, water-seeking roots bestow amazing adaptability, enabling it to tolerate extreme drought and heat. It is sometimes rangy or irregular in form; trim it as needed to maintain the desired shape and size.
Native Alternative
Itea virginica · Virginia Sweetspire
Attributes at a Glance
Itea virginica
- Arching to round form
- Fragrant white flower clusters
- Flaming autumn color
- Green or red winter twigs
Native Habitat and Range
Streams and pond margins, swamps, and low woods from New Jersey and Missouri, south to Florida and Louisiana
Hardiness Range
Zones 5 to 9
Ornamental Attributes and Uses
Virginia sweetspire is an upright, arching to rounded shrub four to eight feet tall and wide. It is deciduous to semievergreen, with leaves that persist well into the winter before dropping. In early to midsummer, fragrant white bottlebrush flowers open at a time when few other shrubs are blooming. The lustrous green leaves, up to four inches long, line arched green stems. When grown in a sunny location, the shrub shows fiery fall color in shades of crimson, burgundy, and purple. In part to full shade, it has autumn hues of orange, gold, and scarlet. It is best used in mass plantings along creek and stream edges, as an informal but tight hedge, in beds and borders, and on slopes.
Growing Tips
Plant in full sun to partial shade in evenly moist, organic, rich acidic soil. It can adapt to neutral and slightly alkaline soils. It tolerates flooding but is equally adaptable to dry situations.
Native Alternative
Diervilla lonicera · Bush Honeysuckle
Attributes at a Glance
Diervilla lonicera
- Small shrub with arching, vaselike form
- 2 to 4 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide
- Yellow flowers all summer
- Yellow to burgundy autumn color
Native Habitat and Range
Open deciduous or mixed coniferous woods, rocky slopes, and roadsides from Newfoundland to Saskatchewan, south to Virginia and Minnesota, and mountains to Tennessee
Hardiness Range
Zones 3 to 7
Ornamental Attributes and Uses
Bush honeysuckle’s clustered yellow flowers open throughout the summer at the tips and in the axils of arching stems clothed with opposite, pointed oval leaves. The deep green foliage emerges tinged with bronze in spring and turns clear yellow to apricot or scarlet in autumn. Use this shrub as a low screen, in mass plantings, or for erosion control.
Growing Tips
Plant in evenly moist, rich soil in full sun or light shade. Bush honeysuckle is moderately drought tolerant once established. The arching crown keeps a fairly regular form. Prune to control size and shape, and remove sprouting runners if necessary.
Related Alternative
Diervilla sessilifolia, southern bush honeysuckle, is more delicate. It grows in Virginia and West Virginia, south to Georgia and Alabama.
More Native Alternatives
Clethra alnifolia, summersweet —Maine south to Florida, and west to Texas. Ilex verticillata, winterberry holly —Nova Scotia to Minnesota, south to Florida and Arkansas. Morella (Myrica) pensylvanica, bayberry —Newfoundland, south along the coast to North Carolina; west along the Saint Lawrence and the eastern Great Lakes to Ohio. For a list of additional native shrubs, visit Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants.
C. Colston Burrell is a garden designer, photographer, naturalist, and award-winning author. He gardens on ten wild acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville, Virginia, where he grows natives and the best plants of the global garden. He is principal of Native Landscape Design and Restoration, which specializes in blending nature and culture through artistic design. Cole has written many books on gardening and plants, and he is a contributing editor for Horticulture and writes regularly for Fine Gardening, Landscape Architecture, and American Gardener. He has edited or contributed to more than a dozen Brooklyn Botanic Garden handbooks, including most recently Intimate Gardens (2005), Spring-Blooming Bulbs (2002), and The Sunny Border (2002). In addition to writing, Cole lectures in the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia as well as internationally on topics of design, plants, and ecology, drawing from a lifetime of studying native plants in the wild and in gardens as well as from his experience as a curator at the U.S. National Arboretum and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.
Photos: Jerry Pavia