Gorgeous flowering shrubs are about to come into their own now that spring is approaching! Those fragrant and showy blooms are a highly anticipated event each year!
So many non-native and introduced species are available to you from all over the world! Many of these plants behave politely in many areas of the country. However, sometimes others can do too well, or just be a hassle to care for.
Native plants, and many native cultivars and hybrids, are better for pollinators and better for the native ecosystem, so choosing native plants to replace a non-native, pesticide-dependant, or potentially invasive shrub helps support the entire ecology of your area!
Get the same beautiful blooms, have the same effect on your curb appeal, plus no worry if your landscaping will become a hassle after it’s planted. In addition, you’ll feed local birds and butterflies, act as host plant species, and won’t choke out native plants!
It sounds like a win-win!
Nature Hills is the first company to use Plant Sentry™ which seamlessly helps us block shipments of regulated plant material into sensitive ecosystems. Plant Sentry™ will alert you if we aren't able to send a plant to you that may be harmful to your area. Just be sure to type in your zip code to get the alert.
We strictly adhere to all Federal or State agricultural regulations. Get in touch with our knowledgeable customer service team to find the perfect alternative should this happen.
Check out these great native ornamental flowering shrub and vine alternatives at NatureHills.com for some of the more notorious non-native varieties.
Boxwood Alternatives
Boxwood are fantastic hedge shrubs with gorgeous green foliage. They were easy to grow, shear, shape, and readily available, quickly establishing themselves as a garden workhorse and green structure plant.
However, the Boxwoods' wide use has become its downfall in areas where these issues are now just as widespread. Subject to blights and fungal infections in some parts of the country, the sticky spores of this fungus cling to birds and animals, to pruning tools, shoes, clothing, and leaf litter. Making it easily transported and introduced to new locations. So it’s best to find something different in areas where they’re getting hit the hardest.
- Native Arborvitae Shrubs (Thuja occidentalis) - American Arborvitae/White Cedar
- Azalea or Rhododendrons like the Sweet Azalea
- Native Holly Bushes - Like Inkberry & Yaupon Holly
- Flowering Currant Bush
- Escallonia
- Evergreen and Native Viburnum
- Spreading Yews (Taxus canadensis)
- Wax Myrtle/Waxmyrtle (Morella cerifera)
Hybridizers are continuously working on new and improved resistant Boxwood varieties too!
Spirea Alternatives
Sometimes unreliable in the landscape and dying back for seemingly no reason in a few parts of the US, Spirea is another shrub that has become somewhat overused, especially in commercial settings, leading to some issues with the plants. Plus they’re not native and can potentially naturalize in some locations, in fact, Spirea is now classified as an invasive in the mid-Atlantic states.
- Common Cinquefoil/Potentilla (Potentilla simplex)
- Sweet Pepper Bush (Clethra alnifolia) Like Hummingbird Summersweet
- Dogwood has 16 native forms - Including Red Osier (Cornus sericea) & Cornus florida
- Native Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) and many cultivars
- Native/Common Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius)
- Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica) and many cultivars
- Sweet Azalea
- Evergreen and Native Viburnum
- Western Sand Cherry Bushes (Prunus besseyi)
- New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus)
Instead, plant the native Spirea called Steeplebush (S. tometosa) and there is a native Meadow Sweet (Spiraea alba). Hybridizers are working on improved versions every day to better work in the modern landscape.
Burning Bushes
Their fiery fall color and neat rounded growth make Euonymous a widely used deciduous shrub that is used in an equally wide variety of ways in the landscape! However their seeds get eaten by birds and then deposited everywhere and can choke out native flora in a few select parts of the country, becoming wildly invasive.
These shrubs have equally wonderful fall color and great tidy, rounded forms for you to use instead! In areas where they’re permitted, the hardy native Strawberry Bush (Euonymus americanus) is a suitable substitute!
- Aronia/Chokeberry
- Beautyberry
- Blueberry (Vaccinum) - Low Bush and High Bush Blueberry
- Bush Honeysuckle - Diervilla lonicera, Diervilla sessilifolia and Diervilla rivularis
- Cranberrybush Viburnum
- Fothergilla
- Common Ninebark
- Native Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) and many Oakleaf cultivars
- American Smokebush/Smoke Tree (Cotinus obovatus)
- Fragrant and other Sumac bushes
- Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica)
- Winterberry Holly
Some seedless/male-only Burning Bush clones and cultivars are becoming available to fill the void for these brilliant fall color standards.
Barberry Bushes
Even though there are native Barberry (Berberis canadensis), just like Burning Bush, the seed dispersal rate of these thorny shrubs has given them a bit of a reputation. Prime barrier plants that wildlife adores, Barberry have fine-textured foliages, adorable bell-shaped blooms, and great fall color, plus they can be shaped and sheared formally and grow anywhere…which became their downfall in the eyes of ecologists and naturalists.
- Blackberry and Raspberry bushes
- Holly - Inkberry, Winterberry & Yaupon Holly
- American Gooseberry Bushes (Ribes hirtellum)
- Osmanthus (Osmanthus americanus) - aka Devilwood & Wild Olive
- Wild/Native Rose bushes
Great Options That Aren’t Thorny But Are Good Dense Shrubs
- Chokeberry/Aronia Bushes - Plus they provide healthful superfruit!
- Fothergilla
- Italian Buckthorn
- Ninebark
- New Jersey Tea
- Highbush Blueberry (Edible fruit too!)
- Arrowwood Viburnums
- Virginia Sweetspire
- Spice Bush (Spicebush)
- Fragrant Sumac
- Sweet Pepperbush (Clethra)
There are also native Red Barberry (Mahonia haematocarpa) that are not exactly true Barberry and another Mahonia that goes by the name Oregon Grape. (and you will enjoy edible fruit!)
Chinese Privet Bushes
Like Boxwood, Privet Bushes (Ligustrum sinense) just became wildly popular then suddenly not so much because of overuse and some invasive issues that arose. Unfortunately, some species of Privet have become rampant throughout the Southern states, choking out natives and causing allergies. Despite being wonderful pollinator plants, the blooms give way to purple berries, that birds are happy to eat and then spread the seeds at the expense of native plants.
- Arrowwood and other Native Viburnum
- Greenleaf Manzanita (Arctostaphylos manzanita) - Whiteleaf Manzanita, Big Manzanita
- Escallonia
- Flowering Currant Bush
- Forest Gardenia (Gardenia brighamii)
- Kinnikinnick
- Downy Hawthorn (Crataegus mollis) & Washington Hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum)
- Raulston's Hardy Viburnum (Viburnum obovatum)
These alternatives not only fill those landscaping voids but also feed pollinators and birds!
Japanese Knotweed
A showy ornamental hailed as being easy and fast to grow, Japanese Knotweed was introduced to the U.S. in the 19th century for its bamboo-like stems, large, lush foliage, and clusters of white late-summer flowers, this plant became widespread fast - in the wrong way!
- American Spikenard (Aralia racemosa)
- Bush Honeysuckle
- Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
- Fetterbush (Lyonia lucida)
- Doghobble (also called Fetterbush) (Leucothoe fontanesiana)
- Hardy Anise/Florida Anise (Illicium parviflorum)
- Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) and cultivars like Olympic Fire
- Red/Purple Chokeberry (Photinia floribunda) are native relatives of Aronia
- Staghorn Sumac
It’s difficult to find plants that flower and handle wetland conditions, but these natives are up to the challenge!
Japanese Honeysuckle
While not a bush, Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) was also a well-used and loved vine that started jumping out of gardens and into the wild.
- Trumpet Honeysuckle Vines (Lonicera sempervirens) like Major Wheeler
- Yellow/Carolina Jessamine/Jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens)
- Sweet Autumn Clematis, Clematis viorna, Clematis crispa, C. hirsutissima & C. texensis
- Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea barbara)
- Honeysuckle Kintzley's Ghost® Vine
The beautiful blooms of many of these alternative vines are just as fragrant and showy as the Asian form and won’t become an issue in your ecosystem.
English Ivy
Those lush green leaves and tenacious climbing abilities of the English Ivy (Hedera helix) have their place in many old-world paintings, architecture, and garden design, but they can get into trouble in more than a few ways in some US environments.
Climbing Alternatives:
- Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)
- Crossvine (Bignonia capreolata)
- Climbing Hydrangea aka: Wood Vamp
- Dutchman's Pipe (Aristolochia tomentosa)
- Scarlet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)
- Yellow/Carolina Jessamine/Jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens)
- Trumpet Creeper (Campsis radicans)
- American Wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) and cultivars like Amethyst Falls Wisteria
Groundcover Alternatives:
- Grassland Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla wichurae)
- Golden Star (Chrysogonum virginianum)
- Allegheny Pachysandra (Pachysandra procumbens)
- Creeping Zinnia (Sanvitalia procumbens)
- Virginia Ginger (Hexastylis virginica)
Many native vines can also be left to sprawl on the ground and become easy groundcover too! Just don’t give them something to climb on and they’ll ramble throughout the landscape.
Rose Bush Alternatives
While the stigma of being high maintenance is waning, Roses can still just be too much work and worry for some people. Luckily they are not invasive. But sometimes they can be fussy in many areas of the country with areas with high humidity, or just requiring too much spraying, and places where diseases run rampant. Roses can sometimes just be too much for the novice or busy gardener, especially in areas where Black Spot and Japanese Beetles are free reins.
Some Great Rose Bush Alternatives
- Mountain Laurel
- Native Azaleas
Native Rose Bush Alternatives:
- Virginia/Carolina Rose ((Rosa carolina)
- Swamp Rose (Rosa palustris)
- Rugosa Roses
- Smooth Wild Rose
While not as flashy or showy as some Floribunda and Grandiflora varieties, these floriferous native versions have all the scent, hardiness, and easy care you need to make up for it!
Forsythia
While not invasive, high-maintenance, or troublesome at all, the gorgeous Forsythia is not a native US shrub. If you are looking for early spring blooms or a great shrub with year-round appeal, check out these underutilized alternatives.
- St. John’s Wort (Hypericum)
- Witch Hazel (Hamamelis)
- Spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
- Pagoda aka: Alternate-Leaf Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia)
- Steeplebush/Hardhack
- American/Black Elderberry (Sambucus nigra & cultivars)
Feel Good Shrub Alternatives
We love all plants! Even the naughty ones! But we understand that sometimes it’s important to have the right plant in the right place! We want your landscaping to stay where it's planted and not become a nuisance elsewhere! Plus native options are a boon to pollinators and wildlife!
So for the best alternatives to the usual suspects that have seeds that disperse thanks to birds, or fly on the wind and take root where they shouldn’t - you can rest assured there are some great alternatives to adorn your landscape with!
Happy Planting!
As always, Nature Hills has you covered, plus you can always contact your local County Extension Office for more great native ideas and alternatives!
Looking for native Trees specific to your State? Check out these great options!
