Greene County Landscaping

Guides 7 of 7

Invasive plants to remove, and what to plant instead

What is on Ohio’s official invasive plant list, which of those turn up around houses, and native swaps.

Sources checked October 26, 2026

Drawing of a bush honeysuckle pulled out of the ground with its roots bare and a cross over it, an arrow, and a native spicebush planted in its place with yellow spring flowers. Remove: bush honeysuckle on Ohio’s invasive plant list Plant instead: spicebush native to Ohio
Bush honeysuckle out, spicebush in.

Ohio’s official list

Ohio’s invasive plant list is a rule of the Ohio Department of Agriculture: Ohio Administrative Code 901:5-30-01, effective February 13, 2023. It names 63 plants. No one may sell, offer for sale, propagate, distribute or import them, or intentionally spread them.1

Two temporary exemptions have run out: Callery pear on January 7, 2023 and common privet on January 1, 2026. The rule is about selling and spreading these plants; it does not order homeowners to dig up ones already growing.1

Listed plants you may find around a house

Most of the 63 are water or wetland plants. These are the listed ones more likely to show up in a yard, hedge or fence line:1

  • Callery pear, including Bradford pear (Pyrus calleryana)
  • Amur, Morrow’s and Tatarian bush honeysuckles (Lonicera maackii, L. morrowii, L. tatarica) and Japanese honeysuckle vine (L. japonica)
  • Autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata)
  • Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora)
  • Common privet (Ligustrum vulgare) and common barberry (Berberis vulgaris)
  • European buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica)
  • Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), princess tree (Paulownia tomentosa), white mulberry (Morus alba) and Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila)
  • Asian bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), porcelainberry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata) and black swallowwort (Vincetoxicum nigrum)
  • Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica)
  • Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), lesser celandine (Ficaria verna), dame’s rocket (Hesperis matronalis) and Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum)
  • Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) and yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus)

Two common shrubs that are not on the rule

Burning bush (Euonymus alatus) and Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) are not on Ohio’s rule, so they can still be sold. The Ohio Invasive Plants Council treats both as invasive and lists native replacements for them.12

What to plant instead

These swaps come from the Ohio Invasive Plants Council’s alternatives list and from ODNR’s alternatives guide. The replacements listed here are native to Ohio.23

Remove Callery or Bradford pear

Plant instead serviceberry, black tupelo or American plum2

Remove Bush honeysuckles

Plant instead American hazelnut, black chokeberry, winterberry, gray or silky dogwood, or spicebush23

Remove Autumn olive

Plant instead American hazelnut, American witch-hazel or elderberry2

Remove Common privet

Plant instead ninebark, black chokeberry or spicebush2

Remove Burning bush

Plant instead eastern wahoo, spicebush or winterberry2

Remove Japanese barberry

Plant instead New Jersey tea, ninebark or winterberry2

Remove European buckthorn

Plant instead gray dogwood, buttonbush or black chokeberry2

Remove Multiflora rose

Plant instead prairie rose or meadowsweet3

Remove Asian bittersweet or Japanese honeysuckle vine

Plant instead virgin’s bower or Virginia creeper2

Remove Purple loosestrife

Plant instead swamp milkweed, spiked blazing star, blue flag iris or cardinal flower23

Remove Tree of heaven

Plant instead pawpaw, eastern redbud or staghorn sumac2

Remove Norway maple (not on the rule, but flagged by the Council)

Plant instead sugar maple or red maple2

ODNR’s guide makes no planting recommendation for garlic mustard, because nurseries don’t sell it; it spreads on its own.3

Plants from these swaps in the native list

Sources

  1. Ohio Administrative Code 901:5-30-01: Invasive plant species (effective February 13, 2023), Ohio Department of Agriculture (checked 2026-10-26).
  2. Alternatives to invasive plants, Ohio Invasive Plants Council (checked 2026-10-26).
  3. Alternatives to Ohio's Invasive Plant Species (2001), Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, and partners (hosted by the Ohio Invasive Plants Council) (checked 2026-10-26).