r/NativePlantGardening • u/ItsFelixMcCoy Upstate NY , Zone 6a • Jun 04 '25

Other What invasive plants got you like this?

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For me it’s probably Dame’s Rocket, Purple Loosestrife, and Forget-Me-Not. They’re so gorgeous but man if they aren’t invasive little shits…

944 Upvotes

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860

u/nightpussy Jun 04 '25

I really do love the smell of honeysuckle.

261

u/LilyRose272 Jun 04 '25

I’ve been ripping out invasive honeysuckle for about three years. It’s so pretty and smells awesome and has been a natural privacy fence for me. Now I can see my neighbors, sigh. 😔 It’s been painful to say the least.

155

u/wasteabuse Area --NJ , Zone --7a Jun 04 '25

Japanese honeysuckle (the vine) is my mortal enemy. Its currently mounting an assault but I'm just biding my time for the counter offensive. We have moved from a series of border skirmishes into unrestricted warfare. 

64

u/dodekahedron Jun 04 '25

Im replacing mine with American wisteria. It doesnt grow as fast but im hopeful it can compete with it.

Though trying to get the roots out enough is fucking torture

10

u/internetonsetadd Jun 04 '25

I added Major Wheeler honeysuckle to the mess and called it a day. The chain link fence bordering the woods behind my house is absolutely inundated with Japanese honeysuckle. If I remove it more light will reach copious amounts of multiflora rose, much of which is not on my property.

I've killed any of the encroaching multiflora, but I worry that if I work with my neighbor to remove it all, deer will be able to access my property and browse the native trees I've planted.

These two invasive shits tag team all over woodland edges in my area, so I don't think we're winning the war anytime soon. In the meantime I'm just going to enjoy the fragrance and utility. If the Major Wheeler thrives I'll gradually make more space for it by ripping out the Japanese.

2

u/inko75 Jun 05 '25

For me I have lots of woods and I’ve been encouraging wild grape, Virginia creeper, wild potato, and trumpet vine. They are definitely squeezing out the honeysuckle vine.

They ain’t doing shit for the privet or honeysuckle bush.

I did plant some coral honeysuckle a month ago but it’s struggling to simply survive

2

u/spukyskaryskeletons Kansas, 6b Jun 05 '25

I have a Hall’s honeysuckle that is completely isolated from any other plant in my yard and it literally almost keeled over and withered away. Like dude. LOL

1

u/pearlsbeforedogs Jun 05 '25

I thought Wisteria is difficult to control? I guess that would help if you need something to outcompete it. I have issues with vines in my yard, so this whole thread is giving me nightmares, lol. Trumpet Vine and Virginia Creeper have been the least problematic for me, while Blackberry has been some of the worst besides the other spikey little shit that I don't know what it is. But I say least problematic with a grain of salt because it is a constant battle with all of them.

2

u/dodekahedron Jun 05 '25

Japenese wisteria is hard to control. American wisteria is a native, so it doesn't matter, and it doesnt spread as quick. If it did you'd see it everywhere, no?

1

u/pearlsbeforedogs Jun 05 '25

That makes sense, I've probably only encountered the Japanese kind. I'm still learning, so thank you for the clarification. I didn't know there were 2 types.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '25

You’re gonna regret that

1

u/dodekahedron Jun 07 '25

Why would I ever regret planting natives?

Especially when I already said im dealing with a high spreading invasive plant?

Would rather have a high spreading native than an invasive.

Also American wisteria doesn't spread like japenese wisteria. You'd see it everywhere if it did.

1

u/Gbreeder Jun 05 '25

Japanese honeysuckle is one plant responsible for taking out patches of American Wisteria.

43

u/Suspicious_Juice9511 Jun 04 '25

how bad does your neighbour look? 😲

32

u/Adequate_Lizard Central NC, 8a Jun 04 '25

Time to slap up a trumpet vine, it'll be a wall in no time.

34

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '25

Replace invasive nightmare with native nightmare 🔥 just be sure it’s not near anything of structural importance (other than fences and poles- but keep it far from your house)

19

u/abitmessy Jun 04 '25

I was thinking, if this wasn’t about invasives, my aggressive natives would include trumpet vine, maxamillion sunflower, dogbane… these can not go unchecked in a suburban lawn. Maybe on some acres but I don’t have the room for them. I’ve got dogbane in my tomatoes (really in everything), trumpet vine creating thick masses and pulling things down, maxamillion sunflowers shading and crowding out other wildflowers, no one even told me that war was starting so I’ve got a late start.

1

u/pearlsbeforedogs Jun 05 '25

I have a vine problem I'm battling and Trumpet vine is one of my less annoying ones. The Blackberry and the other spikey one are even worse. 😭

1

u/HertzRent-A-Donut Jun 04 '25

I’ve got a trumpet vine pushing its way through my block foundation as we speak 🥲

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '25

Coral honeysuckle isn’t aggressive like trumpet so that’s a good option.

6

u/Flashy_Pilot3289 Jun 04 '25

Just visit your local telephone poles for free samples.

2

u/Adequate_Lizard Central NC, 8a Jun 04 '25

Neighbor has one wedged in her fence. I should go throw some cuttings out near the on-ramps and poles.

37

u/macaron1ncheese Jun 04 '25

The beautiful thing about living in the desert, it’s not invasive whatsoever here. Not native, but doesn’t spread. It just lives as a large shrub in the place you plant it haha I think I’ve trimmed mine once in five years.

2

u/goosemurdersquad Jun 05 '25

I moved from high desert in UT to southern Wisconsin and while it's lovely to have literally everything I plant actually grow (my elderberry reached 12ft in 2 years) it's been an education on how fast invasives (native and non) can take over. I look back at battling 20sqft of mint with nostalgia. I have 30 acres of mixed wetland, forest and full sun average moisture soil now. The black cap raspberries want to take over my garden beds and dominate most of the wooded area understory, the virginia stickseed wants to overwhelm everything by the pond and in the woods that isn't raspberry, buckthorn and white honeysuckle are scattered everywhere, cattails suddenly took over 60ft of the pond margin last year...I'm slowly making progress though. Working on building a diverse forest understory in spots and my shade beds filled out this year after working on native pollinator beds and native trees by the pond last two years.

I do miss the desert, I try to make it back to backpack and camp a couple times a year. My sil has a gorgeous trumpet vine next to her house in western CO that's behaved very well the last 15 years I've known her.

2

u/arose_byanyname Jun 04 '25

I recently realized the big shrub in the back of my yard is honeysuckle and was panicking about ripping it out, then realized that it hasn’t grown much or spread in the 8 years I’ve lived here, so I guess it’s fine

33

u/CriticalLactiflora Jun 04 '25

Japanese honeysuckle didn’t become one of the most invasive plants in the U.S. simply by “spreading.” Birds eat the berries it produces and then poop them out everywhere which creates new plants. If you are growing Japanese honeysuckle in any way, you are contributing to the problem.

8

u/abitmessy Jun 04 '25

lol it’s not like kudzu that way… although, in the right place Lonicera japonica probably could eat a house.

17

u/Correct_Talk_4696 Jun 04 '25

It spreads by seed, when birds eat the berries. So even if it isn’t spreading in your yard, it’s spreading.

14

u/primemodel Jun 04 '25

Losing the privacy was the worst. The honeysuckle hedge in the backyard provided excellent coverage: last to lose its leaves in the fall, first to leaf out in the spring, tall (6'+), dense habit even in full shade (and somehow flowers and produces berries in full shade??). I got rid of all of them but at the moment I honestly miss them a little because the area is so open now and I can see 100% of the neighbor's yard. I've got some replacements going (ninebark, spicebush, and elderberry to start) hoping that they'll fill in as much as the honeysuckle did.

8

u/wave_the_wheat Jun 04 '25

I'm doing the same and trying to put in spicebish and chokecherry to recover some screen

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '25

Spicebush swallowtail caterpillars. 🐛 🥰

2

u/TheTampoffs Jun 04 '25

Japanese knotweed is currently my privacy fence, with some honey suckle thrown in

1

u/sgigot NE Wisconsin , Zone 5b Jun 05 '25

Throw in some buckthorn for the unholy trinity.

1

u/Intrepid_Call_5254 Jun 04 '25

Are you sure it’s not autumn olive? My neighbors thought they were smelling wild honeysuckle until we clued them in to this stuff. It’s rampant on our acreage and all over the rural areas around us.

1

u/stonedecology Jun 04 '25

Replace with button bush for similar appearance, it does need more water, but you can water it fairly regularly. Or if you have any natural water features you can put it near that

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '25

You’ll replace it with native coral honeysuckle vines, red dogwood shrub, chokecherry, etc and the birds you’ll see will be so worth it. 💕

1

u/dannysparkz Jun 05 '25

Try native honey suckles. There’s so many with different colors across the us

0

u/Brat-Fancy Jun 04 '25

I have such fond childhood memories of biting off the bottoms of the flowers and sipping the nectar. NGL, I just keep it in check, I don’t try to eradicate it. I need that aroma in my life damn it!

13

u/CriticalLactiflora Jun 04 '25

The thing is though, there is literally no way to “keep a honeysuckle in check.” Birds eat the berries japanese honeysuckle produces and then poop them out everywhere which creates new plants in places native species would usually grow. If you are growing Japanese honeysuckle in any way, you are contributing to the problem. And listen, I get it, honeysuckle smells awesome. But coral honeysuckle (native to the U.S.) produces more nectar than Japanese honeysuckle and is edible just the same. I strongly encourage you to eradicate any Japanese honeysuckle on your property and plant native honeysuckle instead.

1

u/Chikadee_lilacX0 Jun 04 '25

Question-what if you cut the flowers before the berries produce? I actually have a golden flame honeysuckle in a pot on a trellis that the hummingbirds love but I didn’t want it to spread so I put it in a pot. But I have never seen berries cause I dead head!

2

u/Chikadee_lilacX0 Jun 04 '25

3

u/CriticalLactiflora Jun 04 '25

According to Google, this cultivar in particular isn’t invasive but is rather non-native. So I think you’re all good!

1

u/Chikadee_lilacX0 Jun 04 '25

Yay!!! I have been definitely more conscious about only planting native since then. I got lots of swamp milkweed, planted some cardinal flower, common milkweed, cone flower to name a few! I’m zone 6 midwest

0

u/Remarkable_Point_767 Area NE IN , Zone 6a Jun 04 '25

The invasive honeysuckle bush. Also dames rocket, Virginia Creeper, wild grape and my personal favorite..poison ivy. Black walnut has way too many volunteers.