This is part of a series with Perfect Earth Project, a nonprofit dedicated to ecological gardening, on how you can be more sustainable in your landscapes at home.

Last month we talked with Evelyn Beaury, a scientist and assistant curator at the New York Botanical Garden’s Center for Conservation and Restoration Ecology, about the dangers of invasive plants and what gardeners can do to slow the spread. (Read the story here.) One solution is to stop buying those super-aggressive, non-native plants in the first place. By the time a plant ends up on an invasive plant list, the problem is already so big that it will take a lot to fix. Luckily, there are many fabulous native alternatives to grow in their place. As Evelyn Beaury says, “The more we can do to prevent the next big invasive plant, the better off we are.” 

We reached out to design and ecology experts Jeff Lorenz, founder of Refugia Design; Rebecca McMackin, lead horticulturist at American Horticultural Society; Johann Rinkens, owner of Fields Without Fences; Christine Ten Eyck, founding principal of Ten Eyck Landscape Architecture; and Edwina von Gal, landscape designer and Perfect Earth Project founder to share their favorite alternatives to the “dirty dozen” of common invasive nursery plants. 

Don’t Grow This: Miscanthus sinensis 

Grow these instead: “Northwind upright switchgrass (Panicum ‘Nordwind’), Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) all have similar heights and structure to Miscanthus sinesis but have more wildlife and ornamental value, including foliage and flower seed head color,” says Lorenz. “Muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) also features spectacular billowy color and showy seedheads.”

Don’t Grow This: Barberry 

Grow these instead: There’s practically a ninebark for every situation. “In addition to the straight species, there are cultivars with maroon and chartreuse foliage,” says McMackin. “Common ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius) is also a host plant to a number of moths, including the Io moth,” she says. Lorenz also suggests Carolina rose (Rosa carolina) because it has “similar seasonal interest, is thorny, and produces nice rose hips.” The salt- and deer-tolerant plant also “harbors fewer deer ticks and instead invites beneficial predators,” he notes.