Plant Natives!

Non-native, invasive, Nandina - Please avoid planting this and consider removing it from

your landscape.  It is a pest in our parks and preserves.

Spring is the ideal time to think about planting, and how you manage your garden or landscape can have an effect on the overall health of the soil, air, water and habitat for native wildlife as well as our human community. Help conserve and improve the quality of these resources by using sustainable gardening practices such as mulching and composting, reducing or eliminating lawn areas, xeriscaping (planting native, drought-tolerant plants), installing rain barrels, and removing non-native invasive plants and restoring native ones.

The U.S. government defines an invasive plant species as one “that is not native to the ecosystem under consideration and whose introduction is likely to cause economic or environmental harm or harm to human health.” These species grow outside desired boundaries, out-competing native species, and spread by seeds, berries, spores, runners, rhizomes, and stems. Some can be easily transported long distances, and every year millions of our tax dollars and thousands of volunteer hours are spent trying to eradicate them.

Many of these plants have already invaded our preserves and greenbelts in Austin, originating in our landscapes, escaping cultivation and spreading into the wild. Invasive species may grow faster, taller, or wider and shade out native species. Many stay green later into the season or leaf out earlier, giving them an advantage over natives. They can change the vertical and horizontal structure of ecosystems, alter hydrology, and disrupt nutrient cycles, all of which can have devastating effects on native plants and animals.

Although invasive exotics may offer birds fruit, squirrels nuts, and hummingbirds and butterflies nectar, they do not provide the entire range of seasonal habitat benefits that an appropriate locally native species will provide. If we want not only to satisfy our desires to attract wildlife, but also to restore the critical, often unseen, small pieces in our ecosystems, we need to bring back our locally native plants. These plants are not only attractive to humans, they also meet the food and cover needs of all wildlife species: bees, wasps, butterflies, grasshoppers, bugs, beetles, spiders, and thousands of others that sustain and support food webs which songbirds, salamanders, bats, toads, and box turtles more visibly demonstrate.

Escarpment Black Cherry is a beautiful native tree that makes a great replacement for the

highly invasive privets or ligustrums.

Aside from attracting a diversity of wildlife, the use of native plants minimizes the impact our landscapes have on the natural environment around us. They reduce water consumption, eliminate the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and limit the competition from invasive exotics. This results in a much healthier habitat—water, soil, and air—for humans and animals alike, and is less costly, too. Invite wildlife to put on a show in your backyard by replacing the invasives in your landscape, and encourage your neighbors to do the same.

Non-Native/Invasive Plant(s)	Some Native & Adapted Alternative(s)
Bamboo	Wax Myrtle (Morella cerifera) Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria) Bamboo Muhly (Muhlenbergia dumosa)
Chinaberry	Chinquapin Oak (Quercus muehlenbergii) Texas Red Oak (Quercus buckleyi)
Chinese Tallow Tree	Bigtooth Maple (Acer grandidentatum) Lacey Oak (Quercus laceyi)
Elephant Ear	Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia ) Crinum Lily (Crinum americanum) Pigeonberry (Rivina humilis) Frogfuit (Phyla nodiflora) Horseherb (Calyptocarpus vialis)
Giant Cane	Roughleaf Dogwood (Cornus drummondii) Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria)
Japanese Honeysuckle	Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) Passion Vine (Passiflora foetida or incarnate or lutea or tenuiloba) Rock Rose (Pavonia lasiopetala)
Holly Fern	River Fern (Thelypteris kunthii)
Kudzu, English Ivy, Vinca	Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans) Coral Vine (Antigonon leptopus)
Ligustrum (all species) or Common Privet	Evergreen Sumac (Rhus virens) Barbados Cherry (Malpighia glabra) Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria) Possumhaw Holly (Ilex decidua) Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens) Cherry Laurel (Prunus caroliniana) Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)
Mimosa	Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) Texas Redbud (Cercis canadensis var. texensis  ) Elbowbush (Forestiera pubescens )
Nandina or Heavenly Bamboo	Texas Lantana (Lantana urticoides) Bush Germander (Teucrium fruticans) Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens)
Paper or White Mulberry	Red Mulberry (Morus rubra) Texas Persimmon (Diospyros texana) Possumhaw Holly (Ilex decidua) Cherry Laurel (Prunus caroliniana)
Pyracantha	Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria) Possumhaw Holly (Ilex decidua) Evergreen Sumac (Rhus virens)
Red-tipped or Chinese Photinia	Evergreen Sumac (Rhus virens) Carolina Buckthorn (Frangula caroliniana) Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria)
Russian Olive	Texas Persimmon (Diospyros texana)
St. Augustine Grass	Buffalo Grass (Bouteloua dactyloides)
Tamarisk or Salt Cedar	Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) Arizona Cypress (Cupressus arizonica)
Tree of Heaven	Chinquapin Oak (Quercus muehlenbergii) Lacey Oak (Quercus laceyi)
Vitex or Chastetree	Texas Pistachio (Pistacia mexicana) Mexican Buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa)
Wisteria	Passion Vine (Passiflora foetida or incarnata or lutea or tenuiloba) Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans)