I get most of my information on the internet, but I've subscribed for years to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden handbooks. I just checked my book shelf and two handbooks are immediately relevant:

Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants

and

Invasive Plants - Weeds of the Global Garden

One nice thing about the Native Alternatives handbook is that it doesn't just condemn a plant, leaving you with a hole in your garden. It tells you what other plants you can use to get a similar appearance to the invasive plant.

For instance, instead of using Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), the handbook suggests using

Witch Alder (Fothergilla gardenii), or
New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus), or
Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica), or
Bush Honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera)

Claire

I have a bunch of the Audubon field guides and IMO they don't emphasize enough how invasive certain species are - it will say the Amur Honeysuckle is a "one of the most impressively invasive woody shrubs" or the House sparrow is an "abundant European import". I think there should be clear warnings about the very worst of these invasive species and it should explain how they are threatening populations of native species and to NOT plant them or encourage them and even eradicate them.

Most of my knowledge about invasive plants has not come from books but from the Internet and the "field" which includes my own backyard and observing natural places or wild/uncultivated edges in this area. Along with the NEWFS website (and Gardenweb and other garden sites too), websites I've learned the most from include:

USDA Plants database - has noxious weed information on each species

Massachusetts Prohibited Plant list

Invasive Plant Atlas of New England

I've also gotten a lot of first-hand experience because when I first moved here there was some pretty serious infestations of non-native invasive plants, although I had no clue about them at first expect for Bittersweet. I proceeded to identify what was growing here with increasing feeling of dread because plant after plant was turning out to be a terrible invasive. I've been working on eradicating:

Norway maple - Acer platanoides
Oriental bittersweet - Celastrus orbiculatus
Glossy Buckthorn - Frangula alnus
Common Buckthorn - Rhamnus cathartica
Burning bush - Euonymous alatus
Autumn olive - Eleangus umbellata
Shrub Honeysuckle - Lonicera spp.
Multiflora rose - Rosa multiflora
Barberry - Berberis thuriengii (??)

First four species were the worst infestations. PErhaps about 60% of total plants are eradicated at this point. It's cost about $2000 in tree work to remove Norway maples so far, and one very large tree remains that has about a 3 foot diameter. I also have a stampeding horde of Vinca minor, lot of Hemerocallis fulva, and lesser invasions of some other species like Amur maple, Procelain berry and no doubt others that I can't think of or haven't identified yet. Yikes.

Wanted to add, that I think any respectable publication or website on plants or animals in North America should also include CLEAR information on the origin or native range of the species.

IMO non-native species are suspect unless they have been proven over decades to be well-behaved and not invasive (i.e peonies, which will still be in the same place they were planted 50 years earlier).

Terrene - I do see many of the magazines starting to include warnings about plants' invasive attributes but I agree it's still very confusing for the reader especially when some plants (eg butterfly bush) are invasive in some regions of the US but not others.

Terrene's list of invaders on her property is similar to mine except for the Norway Maple (although we had plenty of those on our last property, including thousands of their offspring). I spent the first year on this property pulling bittersweet vines from stands of beautiful hemlock trees. I've replaced them with the American Bittersweet vine which I am hoping will still produce the berries and the twining habit but not the invasive tendencies!

Terrene -

A bit off topic, but if you can find a local woodturning group, you could try contacting them to see if anyone is interested in your 3 foot diameter Acer platanoides. Norway maple is a nice wood, so you'll be getting rid of an invasive species and having it turned into something beautiful. I'm an amateur turner and have lots of buckthorn. In rooting it out I noticed the pretty orange color just under the bark and decided to try turning it. I've used it for Christmas ornaments which are small enough to use the small diameter wood I have. Makes me feel like all the time I spend removing buckthorn isn't such a total waste since some of it I can use.

In addition to the buckthorn (lots and lots and lots!) I have some bittersweet, a couple of kinds of honeysuckle (vine and shrub), pruple loosestrife along the river, and some barberry. I have enough property that I'll never get rid of it all, but on an ongoing basis I work to reduce what invasives are there by pulling, cutting, and judicious use of Roundup.

I'm pretty careful what I plant since I'm in a rural area and invasives can really spread into the woods. For instance, I've been waiting to see about Heptacodium. It seems like a great plant, but it's a relatively newly marketed one, and although I've heard nothing about it seeding around, I decided I'd wait to be sure that it wouldn't develop that problem. An example is that only now are the pears (like the Bradford and Cleveland) being seen as invasive in the southeast, long after they have been planted in every other subdivision. Perhaps I'm being overly cautious, but I see what problems are created when plants attract animals that help them seed themselves around, and so I really try to avoid the problem.

I get information on invasives here on GW as well as other internet sources and books. I also look around at old fields and other sites where invasives often move in and make sure that I can ID most of the plants there as a way to familiarize myself with pioneer species, some of which are fine or native, but others are foreign invasives. I usually consult several sources before I get a plant I'm not familiar with, and if it either runs through underground roots or is a prolific seeder, I don't buy it. It's way too much trouble to remove a plant I end up regretting (the voice of bitter experience) than to avoid it in the first place, no matter how attractive it may seem.

nhbabs - interesting what you said about Norway Maple wood being good for wood working. I have a client with a yard full of mature Norway Maples and she is debating whether to remove them. Her husband is a just-retired architect with a workshop in his barn. Perhaps he can take up working with wood as a retirement hobby :-) One question - what is "wood turning" exactly? I'm assuming it is some type of wood carving craft.

Sounds like your book has a chapter I need, ellen_s! I just posted looking for recommendations on native screens and hedges for property in VT. I'm going to look up those alternatives claire mentioned right away -- but if you have a chance to look in your book for additional options I'd be much appreciative.

Hi Jwutzke - you might want to check out NH State Nursery's web catalog, they have packages of shrubs that offer value to wildlife, as well as lots of native bare-root seedlings. Might be an idea if you are willing to wait a few years for them to mature, or the catalog might give you some ideas at least.

But here are some ideas for native hedging/screening plants that also provide food or habitat for wildlife:

Deciduous:
Viburnum prunifolium (Blackhaw Viburnum)
Physocarpus opulifolius (Ninebark)

Evergreen:
Ilex glabra (Inkberry Holly)
Tsuga canadensis (Hemlock)
Juniperus (Juniper)
Thuja occidentalis (White Cedar)

Good luck with your new property!

Here is a link that might be useful: NH State Nursery

Ellen - Wood turning uses a machine called a lathe which spins the wood so it can then be shaped by a sharp chisel, making round or cylindrical objects like bowls, balls, or candle sticks. I do know that there is at least one wood turning group in eastern or central MA, but don't know the name.

Ellen great topic! I think I only became aware of invasive plants in the last few years from belonging to the Garden in the Woods (they have been emphasizing this topic the last 5 years) and reading all the posting here on Garden web about the prohibited plant list etc. I have to confess that in 1992 when we moved into our house I planted 2 burning bushes and Japanese Barberry so far they haven't spread. We are planning to remove these plants when we renovate the stone walls near where they are planted. In fact the Burning bushes have been a disappointment (not great color, grown large for the area even with extensive yearly pruning) and the Japanese Barberry is such a pain (literally with the thorns it produces!). If it wasn't for the thorns I would have removed it already. When we bought these plants in 1992 there wasn't any information on invasive plants and we used to shop at the box stores so this is all that we were exposed to for bushes/shrubs. It is great that all the information is available now. I only hope it isn't too late to stop the invasive plants from taking over our native woods.

Sedum..yeah, the Jap. Barberry is not fun to remove, with its thorns. We had 3 of the purple-leaved cultivars on our property when we bought it. Talked hubby into removing them but I had to cut the branches low to the ground and remove them first, and then he dug out the rootballs with a sharp shovel. They do not spread in place, but they reseed when birds eat the berries and excrete them in other areas. I have proof of their tendency to reseed - I see them all over the woods behind us, in places far from houses so I know they were never planted.

The UMass Extension has a workshop coming up on

"Strategies and Products for Managing Weeds and Invasive Plants in the Landscape

Date: February 27, 2008
Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: The Publick House - Sturbridge, MA

This program will give an overview of the many strategies and products available for managing weeds and invasive plants in ornamental beds and landscapes. Management strategies for several of the most difficult-to-control weeds will be outlined. Cost is $50. Three pesticide contact hours for categories 29, 36, 37 & 00.".

This is aimed more for the landscape professionals, but might be of interest to gardeners.

http://www.umassgreeninfo.org/upcoming.html

Claire

Sedum, before I was aware of the invasive nature of some plants, I planted a King Crimson maple (which is a cultivar of Acer platanoides) and a Bradford Pear at my previous house. Feel terrible about it now. The Callery Pear is an example of an EXTREMELY widely planted tree that has pretty blooms but is turning out to be invasive. Not to mention that the Bradford cultivar is short-lived because it has a terrible growth habit and falls apart when it reaches a certain age.

It makes me wonder what non-native species are being widely planted now that will turn out to be more obnoxious invasive plants in 10-20-30 years?

Speaking of Barberry - ouch, ouch - and not only that it's UGLY so what do people see in it?? Burning bush is another one - kind of ugly shrub, no blooms to speak of, but it does often have nice fall color and red berries, and it's very hardy which is why commercial properties plant a zillion of them. There are so many more beautiful native shrubs.

This past summer I was clearing out invasive shrubs (mostly Buckthorn) and was cutting back a Barberry, getting ready to dig it out - and unbeknownst to me there was a Yellow Jacket nest about 8 feet away. Pruning Barberry is punishment enough, but then the Yellow jackets felt that I was threatening their nest and started stinging my hands, through the top of my gloves. Only I didn't know it right away because the Barberry was already so prickly! My right hand which was stung first swelled up quite a bit. Took Benadryl and that resolved the swelling.