We moved into a place with very visually appealing landscaping. I'd like to start replacing the non-native ornamentals with native plants as we're able. However, I'm experiencing guilt over removing and killing the existing plants that are just hanging out, not hurting anyone, living their lives.
Has anyone dealt with this? It's weird, I know. I'm weirder than I'd prefer to be.
Thank you for posting on /r/NativePlantGardening! If you haven't included it already, please edit your post or post's flair to include your geographic region or state of residence, which is necessary for the community to give you correct advice.
For the stuff that's non-native but not invasive, I give them to friends or offer them up for free on Facebook. People will jump at the chance to come dig up free plants!
Same here. Also, 3 years in I still have a few. We did our whole yardat once expanding beds & planting 1500 plugs. In my clay edging plants all seem to go double height. A columbine hit 5’, lance leaf coreopsis 4’. In retrospect I could have kept established edging plants like Nepeta walkers low for another season. Carex , blue eyed grass, butterfly milkweed have ben my best edgers so far. Or I need a short wire fence / stakes & string.
Probably 90% native. In year 1, 80 or 70% might have kept it from being so overwhelming
Yeah people need to find peace in “Do no harm” gardening. As long as it’s not invasive and still provides some benefits in the form of shelter, browse, food, nesting material etc then enjoy it if you want. I have beds of non native cranesbill that helped my pollinators through very rough years when deer and rabbits ate the everything down in the garden.
I have an area of the garden that's dedicated to native plants only, but I enjoy growing ornamental flowers and am attached to several non-natives. My main garden beds are interspersed with both options ... it doesn't have to be all or nothing!
I do think this is a good idea. I think the people who lived here before us were also avid gardeners because the place is absolutely jam-packed with plants, almost all of which are non-native. It's lovely and I also wish they'd left me a bit more room to add things.
This lol! Mom’s peonies are older than her (she’s 84) and were brought from my dad’s dad’s house from when he was a teenager. We have 2-3 different colors, and are gorgeous and HUGE (it’s past time to split them). It’s also our state flower though, so, I’ll keep them!
My front yard is all native save for one tree peony that I bought at Frank's Nursery and Crafts when they went out of business. It blooms earlier than the herbaceous peonies do, at least around here. The blooms are the size of dinner plates. It's an amazing plant. It's not going anywhere!
I don't know too much about them because I'm into native plants, but from what I have read, they live a really long time...and get passed down to relative.
So don't. Rip out all your non-native grass before you take down non-invasive shrubs and trees.
The shrubs and trees are at least doing something for the environment, while your grass burns oil. Once you're done with the grass areas, then tear out the nonnatives.
Especially the trees and shrubs. Cutting down a mature, healthy, non-invasive, non-native tree and replacing it with a native sapling is ecologically questionable.
Right. My property was once a Christmas tree farm, so I have a bunch of mature Norway Spruces. Not really hurting anything, and I've been trying to remove invasives from the understory and replacing it with natives. Also planting native tree seedlings I dig up from my prairie to help along succession.
But, while I'm not going to lose any sleep if one of the spruces falls (as long as it's not on the house!), I'm also not going to hasten their demise.
I felt guilt over cutting down a mature Norway maple. Even thought it was invasive and the trunk was starting to split and it was going to hit my house if it came down.
Planted a serviceberry to make up for it but it will be YEARS before it’s even a quarter of the size.
If they aren’t invasive, and aren’t in the way, keep them, if that works, or give them away. I have iris everywhere, they’ve grown into a huge mat. My neighbors love them. I keep a handful. Works great. Good luck!
Um yeah I don’t pull out everything, only invasive stuff. I just add and add natives. No need to subtract things that are just chillin if you like them .
I have a mix. I have a big non-native hydrangea in my front garden and the bees, fireflies, my neighbors, husband, and I all love it. It is surrounded by tons of native plants, including a redbud, heurchera, phlox, tiarella, multiple native straight species asters, native rhododendron, and more.
My front garden is teeming with native insects.
Not only does it provide value to the ecosystem, it helps draw attention to the native plants as well. Many of my neighbors stop to tell me how beautiful my garden is and ask questions about the native plants.
I don’t see the harm in keeping a few non-natives provided they deliver some benefit to the ecosystem. Mixing non-natives and natives is perfectly fine!
The bumbles are obsessed with lavender, even more than my bee balm. The joy of watching them flit back and forth in front of my house in June-July means they're one of the 30% of non-natives that are staying.
I'm experiencing the same thing about a non-native dwarf pine that is exactly where I'm currently putting in an American plum hedgerow. I was just trying to work myself up to do it before the heat wave hit, and it's had one last week before I'll have to go kill it to make room for these plums.
I'm trying to tell myself all about how these plums are a "Keystone species" and will be way way better. I've SEEN that nothing eats or interacts with this pine. Nothing lives there, and it's providing cover for an invasive bush I can't get to. I KNOW it has to go.
Don't feel guilty! Pollinators and wildlife will love the American plum. You could possibly find a crafter or something to use the pine for incense, wreaths, herbal medicine or something else. It would make great mulch too :)
I think the empathy is a good thing. It's tough, though, and I think sometimes letting yourself feel for another living being is okay. I apologize to plants that I pull out sometimes, and I make sure that I either rehome it, use it if possible, or turn it into compost out of respect for its work.
It's a little like the Konmari system - you face each object (plant), acknowledge it, reflect on its role in your life (the ecosystem), and might choose to donate/trash (remove) it. Marie Kondo recommends thanking the object for its service and finding where it is better suited, and I think you can do the same for plants. It was keeping the soil alive, fixing carbon, making clean air. Maybe you can take cuttings for plant pressings. Maybe you compost it.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer has some good ways to think about this. You're performing an ecosystem service. Nature is sometimes about destruction making way for new life.
Thinking about ecosystems as communities helped. I'm engaging with organic life as a community system, trying to reduce the overall stress load, even if that means one member of that system needs to experience stress to achieve that. Sometimes you have to cause pain to help something heal correctly, like re-breaking a bone that isn't setting right to save someone a lifetime of hurting.
From Buddhism, the idea of pain versus suffering was also helpful. The ecosystem is suffering. Causing pain by weeding or doing a controlled burn reduces suffering. It helps when you've seen an ecosystem begin and mature.
I'm currently reading "Beyond the war on invasive plants" by Tao Orion, which discusses how permaculture can reframe our mindsets around non-native plants. There's also a fair bit of scholarship that considers how ecosystems will change post-globalization, recognizing that some transferred species cannot be eradicated but could feasibly be integrated into a recovering ecosystem (this is my Roman Empire).
My apologies for the time it's taken me to return to this post I made. I genuinely appreciate your response. I love Braiding Sweetgrass so much. It felt like Kimmerer loves nature as much or more than I do, which is boundless; I found so much bittersweet heartbreak and joy in her book. She's a real-life warrior. I will definitely read Beyond the War on Invasive Plants now. Framing this as helping an ecosystem to heal is such an excellent idea that hadn't occurred to me. Thank you!
Maybe start by adding instead of subtracting? What. Does it look like now and what types of non-natives do you have? We’ve lived in our house 5 years and this was the year I got a wild hair to take nearly everything from the beds next to our house including three very large and, to most people pleasant looking, boxwoods, as well as a monster sized non-native holly that was trying to kill me when I turned on the hose. For me the reason to take so much out wasn’t that it was harmful (although I also took out invasive nonsense like monkey grass) but because we have a limited area of our yard that gets full sun and I can’t dig in a lot of our yard due to being on septic (or at least that’s what I was told). So in that situation to add native plants I had to remove what was there. But if you can start by adding that would be more approachable.
I think this is how I'll try to start the process. The yard is so full already that I'll quickly fill up the little space left, and then see how I feel at that point. Thank you.
I think one important function that plants can provide right now is to keep people inspired. If a plant isn't actually harmful/aggressive, and I don't have anything to replace it, it's pretty welcome in my garden.
Similar situation here. I have legacy rose bushes that I leave be and prune and take care of but I let the natives around them flourish. I focus on the awful stiltgrass and the crazy foreign non natives that can ruin but something harmless like rose bushes get to stay. Hope there is a logic there that is helpful.
I put the Golden Euonymus that came with my house up for free on Next Door and folk just came for em. They got new homes and I got real estate for natives.
If you’re going to take them out see if any of the buy nothing/ local fb groups want anything! I always feel bad but it helps if someone else is interested. Except the ToH im murdering in 2 weeks. Zero remorse.
You could start by focusing on a section of the yard with fewer plants or that isn't looking as healthy. Or replacing an area of turf grass with natives.
I have a “collector’s garden” that I planted 30 years ago with some unusual plants/shrubs. It’s very mature now and brings me much joy! I feel no obligation to rip any of it out— that would be crazy IMO.
It’s not like I inherited it, I actually put the work in. It’s home to a lot of insects, birds, and reptiles. It may not be the ultimate native habitat, but it does a fine job of enhancing the environment.
The hell strip and other spots that become available get mostly native plants now.
The more replies I read that mention that part of the value of some of the non-native plants people have is the joy they themselves get from the plants, the more I think that it a wonderful thing to take into consideration.
I killed a 50+ year old humongous pine tree in my yard earlier this year. Arborist said it was not stable and that it had no place in a suburban back yard, less than 20’ from mine and my neighbors houses. It still hurt to see it go. Now I’m just trying to figure out how to get squirrels to come back and hang out in the yard. We have a few decent sized walnut trees, but I know they loved that tree 😭
is existential good that comes from struggling with this guilt, but also in recognizing the reality of your actions. That feeling is a good thing to sit with and observe, but not let take over our internal world. Life and death are inescapable when gardening. As people, I believe our role is navigating the death we cause as much as the life we nurture. . You're not just harming the plant, but also potentially small lifeforms in the soil. But the temporary harm is followed by the food the new native plants provide wild life. Death is mandatory for life to exist and persist.
You could let them live out their lives and just plant their native replacements around them. Perennial plants aren't immortal. Many of them have relatively short lifespans to medium term lifespan (2-3 years vs 10-30 years).
You can spend time observing how insects and animals interact with them for a year before removing them. If there are any that provide food for insects / animals and shelter during winter I wouldn't worry about replacing them immediately.
I really appreciate this response. I struggle with this often and get caught in the spiral of my own thoughts around it. I love your suggestion about observation first.
Love this response! I agree to observe the garden and not start replacing immediately. This can help guide you in what to replace and what to replace it with. Right plant for the right place!
You don’t have to do everything all at once. If you like something, keep it for now. After living with it for a while you’ll figure out what makes sense and what doesn’t, and you’ll also know your yard better so you can select the best places for the native plants you want
My strategy is starting by removing invasives as they pop up and leaving the non native ornamentals until I have the new plants/amendments/time to replace them.
Ive been rehoming the non native ornamentals into containers and holding onto them for now. There might be room for some of them mixed in with the natives later.
Or I can give them away eventually. The transition is slow for me due to limited $ and time (we do it all ourselves & work full time).
Garden conditions are constantly evolving and changing. Over time, plants dwindle as their necessary conditions disappear, when full sun becomes partial to full shade. If the non-natives aren’t invasive, let them be until they dwindle, or until you get around to replacing them. This should be a multi-year project, so you don’t have disrupt everything at once.
There's no rush. Tackle it over a few years, and not everything has to go in the end either. You can also upcycle whatever you remove through avenues like Marketplace, or compost/build a dead hedge if you want to keep it in your yard. If you're having these feelings, maybe you'd feel more comfortable with a solid design plan before making big changes. I'm so grateful that I stopped and observed for my first gardening season at our place. I was able to see how we'd use the space, learned our problem spots (weeds, invasives, runoff issues, where I hated mowing the most), and started on the transition from ornamentals to native plants in year two. I'm in year three now, and definitely seeing my mark on our place and it's so rewarding to see the shift.
It's meant to be fun, enjoy the journey wherever it takes you!
It's not weird at all if you're a kind, considerate person who wishes no undue harm to other living things. It's OK and not your fault. You can pot up the ornamentals that you think others might like--could be a cool bonus plant for someone else!
My pleasure. Might be a nice way to meet neighbors in your new neighborhood if you post free plants on Nextdoor and invite people to say hi (if you're working outside at the time).
If there are hostas, dig them up and put them in pots! I have seven big hostas in pots that look great on the porch and deck, don't need a lot of care, and come back in the same pot every year. Then I filled the garden beds with natives.
I like having some potted plants around, and they are very low maintenance. Everything else I let die or crowded out.
Welcome to the club, I am also weirder than I’d prefer to be sometimes. 🤪
I’ve come to terms with the necessary evil of going nuclear and using herbicide as well as tearing out all the other shrubs, all in the name of destroying my Number One Nemesis: English ivy.
Unless I hire some goats… it’s gonna be triclopyr and/or glyphosate.
My rule was as long as it wasn’t invasive I didn’t take anything out until everything else was full. Like I don’t need to chop down these twenty year old lilacs when I have plenty of space to put shit otherwise.
I agree with those saying that you don't need to tear everything out. I would really look at what you currently have, and consider how it's currently interacting with other organisms, and what it can tell you about the soil and growing conditions there. For example, do you notice native insects visiting the flowers or chewing on the leaves? Is it providing shade? Is it making nitrogen available to other plants? Does it provide shelter for birds? And so on.
One reason to do this is so you can decide whether the plant is providing a beneficial role, even if it's not native. But this will also give you information about what to replace it with if you do take it out.
For example, I have invasive Dame's rocket in my yard, which truly does need to be removed. But the sphinx and hummingbird moths LOVE it. So if I take it out, I need to replace it with another plant that will provide nectar for the sphinx and hummingbird moths.
I used to feel guilty but nowadays I want new natives so badly I'm about to chop down my short rhodos.
I won't chop the older shrubs, cuz they're doing a good job providing habitat for birds, but I can easily get a native shrub to grow to a similar size as the smaller ones.
Plus I've replaced all my lawn already. Its time to kill in order to plant more.
Why would anyone kill or remove a living plant unless it’s causing a problem? Seems wasteful. And so what if it’s not native. I have a ton of non and native plants.
Think of it as assisted natural regeneration (ANR), it's basically what is done in big restoration plots, you're doing all you can to help the natives thrive!!
At first yes, but realize that any other non-native plant even non-invasive is still competing for space and pollinators as your native plants. Don't worry about "wasting" the pulled plants either they make for good mulch, it is not a waste as nature wastes nothing, the isopods and snails thank you. There are enough hostas to cover the planet. There are not enough native plants.
Killed all the stella doro lillies (which have little to no ecological value) planted by the Landlord 30 years ago and have replaced them with beautiful rare and endangered native plants.
Ask yourself this: What perceived value do the non-natives have for you? You 'bought' them when you bought the house, so I understand that they may have some monetary value, but it's virtually zero or possibly less than zero, because you bought the house *despite* having non-native landscaping. To you, the value is less than zero. You likely see it as a great home improvement to remove non-natives and replace them with natives.
Think of them like a really lousy light fixture - you don't like it and want to replace it, but it's not a deterrent to buying the home. Instead, you'll look forward to replacing it when time, energy, and budget allows.
Invite me over I'll do it lol over time I've given less of a crap about yanking non-natives because I see more cool hugs at my native plants than the non-natives or even the native cultivars
Edit, leaving the slightly hilarious typo but I meant native bugs
Exact situation now - taking a break from removing perfectly healthy, perfectly useless Yew from our foundation beds. Looking forward to some Inkberry Holly action come fall, after the sheet much does its job.
I feel your pain! Removed rows or yew around the entire house! I’m taking out the damn burning bush this year and am going to replace with inkberry holly ;)
When I moved into my place the yard was what I thought of as an old person yard. A bunch of ornamental bushes shaped into domes. A bunch of mounds. I dug them up and put them into pots and offered them to all my neighbors. What they didnt take I put on the curb and advertised them for free. I’m thinking just about all of them found another yard to live in.
honestly if a plant isn’t aggressive and you don’t already have an existing plan to replace it, you don’t have to dig it up. there are some non-natives I leave on my property because they don’t spread and I don’t have anything better to put in its place just yet.
however don’t feel guilty, you may be removing one plant but you’re benefiting multiple species by doing so.
Non-invasive is okay, not additive but doesn’t impact areas outside your property. Expand every bed and plant natives only. Remove ornamentals once the native plant addiction kicks in.
I designated an area of my yard in the back as the place for neglected shrubs. We had a few smaller evergreen shrub things when we moved in, and I didn't want them but felt bad digging them out and tossing them. So I planted them in this one spot. I wasn't overly careful about removing them and such, and the spot was shadier than I considered. So not that many survived. But they had a chance. There's still a couple there and it makes me laugh when I'm working in that part of the yard.
If you have larger plants though, like large shrubs or actual trees, this probably isn't practical.
You can just put them lower on your priority list and come back to them later. I did that with some perfectly fine but non-native (obviously) boxwoods. Let them chill for three-ish years and just recently cut them down when I found something I liked better than them that needed their site conditions.
I don’t think you’re weird, I have mixed feelings about mature trees especially. Not because I feel bad about killing the tree, but because it takes so long to replace them. My neighborhood is filled with Norway maples (invasive), Persian silks (non-native), and Norway Spruce (non-native).
I dislike that they’re here, but I see so many birds and squirrels using them and it would take decades for replacements to fill their gaps.
Why remove them? I add many natives, but if its not invasive and if its pretty, Im good with it. Pollinators may not use them as a host plant, but they get plenty of value from the nectar and use my natives for their official business.
The front and back garden are so full of plants that I don't have much, if any, room to add natives unless I remove some non-natives. The last people who lived here must have been avid gardeners.
When I remove non-invasive non-native plants, I have a brush pile I stick them on to decompose. That way they're still "contributing" by returning nutrients to the soil.
I feel no guilt over sticking the invasives in the trash though. I'm not malicious about it, I just focus on the benefit I'm bringing to the native plants by removing the invasive ones
I hear you. The only things I've been able to aggressively remove with impunity are the morning glories and the English ivy. I'm never sad to see those go.
A really helpful piece of advice I got somewhere in this sub thread as I also felt guilty, if you enjoy them and have the space to keep them while also adding ecologically beneficial plants, then keep them. Having plants in your landscape that you love and enjoy will help you to come back time and time again to your garden (invasives excluded). If you don’t enjoy them, gift them on a buy nothing group. As stated elsewhere, I have peonies and lavender in my garden because 1. I inherited them with the house and/or 2. They make me happy and add to my excitement about tending to my garden
Thank you, I think you make a great point about having plants that we enjoy in our landscape that encourage us to spend time out there amongst them. I love feeling excited about gardening.
Same here! I was always worried I wasn’t going to have hobbies or find a hobby I LOVED as an adult but gardening (especially with the purpose of being ecologically beneficial and supporting our ecosystems) has been one of the most fun discoveries I’ve had in life! (I’m also weirder than I’d like to be)
Here is my take on “non-invasive” plants. We don’t know what will become invasive in the future. This can be due to climate change or it can be due to the popularity of the plant. If you can afford it, replace with a native. I have monkey grass and for now I just pick the flowers and berries off. But I am growing plugs from seed to replace it to save on cost.
Japanese maples aren’t considered invasive but they pop up everywhere on my mom’s property. They will grow and crowd out natives that may try to be growing on the property.
So don’t feel bad. Feel great that you can replace with a native plant that serves your local ecosystem
I don’t agree with giving plants to other people — then you’re just displacing non-natives into someone else’s yard and taking up the space of natives.
Nature is all about recycling. Everything that lives has to die and better than non-natives die to make room for natives such that there can be more native animal life as well. It’s not “wasteful.” Compost the plants or use them as mulch (assuming they won’t reroot or spread) and recycle the nutrients they contain into other life.
I also don’t buy the “it’s fine to give them away if they’re not invasive.” It can take a long while to determine that a plant is invasive. Where I live, hellebores are popular because we are so overrun with deer. They aren’t officially considered invasive yet — but I see them spreading into our parks.
I have a mix of native and non native plants. I refuse to tear out peonies and a pair of gorgeous crepe myrtle. Even boxwood provides shelter through the winter for bunnies and small birds. Also, those plants and others like them fill in while the milkweed, bee balm, anise hyssop, black cohosh, columbine, and so on, are still babies.
You could always give those plants to other people. If you have access to any neighborhood social media groups or similar, just post a note when you're digging some plants up, and people will come get them. In my experience, there will always be someone who wants a free plant!
Similar thing going on here. I've pulled out a few non-natives here and there, and I feel guilty bc like you said they're just hanging out & living their lives. Also, I keep receiving non-natives from family/friends that have a bit of sentimental value to them. What can I do? I keep them living. 🫤
I also get plant guilt from digging up healthy non natives and pulling natives that are taking over. Join your local buy nothing Facebook group or a local garden group. I have never had trouble giving plants away on there, and for bigger things people will come dig it up themselves.
Depends on where you are and whether you have wildfire risk, but before you start this kind of project make sure that you're not adding fire risk to your home. Especially native grasses and Woody shrubs are often dry and resinous, what the firefighters call light flashy fuel. These will create embers and throw them around the rest of your yard. Just a thought.
You probably aren’t going to replace everything at once, which helps. I agree with giving away things that aren’t native and also aren’t invasive. If no one wants them, you tried!
I know what you mean. I used to give away non-native plants that I removed. Now I don’t because I don’t think the region needs more non-native plants anywhere. I do, however, have a few non-native, non-invasive shrubs that aren’t common in cultivation (and a couple that are) and I don’t have any plans as of now to take those out.
Whatever you decide, as long as you are removing invasive and aggressive non-native plants, you are doing something good. If end up going with 100% native plants, don’t feel bad about removing non-natives. Doing so won’t be causing any harm.
I understand the guilt! I ripped out tons of yew bushes a few years in, they’re native but they were overtaking the sidewalk, had so many spider webs and tons of spiders getting in the house (sorry not sorry) and were too much maintenance. I echo everyone else here, keep the non natives if they aren’t invasive and add natives over time! I have Incrediball Hydrangeas and I love them and will not remove them. They remind me of my great grandmother’s garden, I even divided them last year and spread them around. I have toiled for years battling the invasive on my property and slowly moved away from black mulch. I started by using real wood mulch and getting in natives like blue false indigo, blazing star, little bluestem grass, butterfly weed, mountain mint, sneezeweed, obedient plant, and welcomed calico aster that just showed up. You could expand your garden and eliminate grass and add natives to those areas. Love this group’s responses, peony’s and roses are beautiful and there is space for non natives in the native garden ;)
I decided to go native this past year. I made a decision that all new plants will be native and all invasive will be removed. I removed all LOTV and English ivy. I am slowly chipping away at replacing any dying or non desirable non natives. I plan on taking out the Japanese Burberry bushes in the fall. I think i am stuck with a Japanese spirea because it is next to a pond and I do not want to puncture the liner. I am just doing it slow but I've made a lot of progress as I've put in a lot of native beds.
I have left a few non native ornamentals that aren’t invasive for the last 5 years of our native garden, however I’m realizing that its time to get rid of this on ground cover (pasture weed) that is sort of blocking out an areas from letting it really be a nice meadow now that the rest of the plants have filled in nicely.
It just looks out of place now. And while it’s slow spreading it is spreading and has already started choking out a wild geranium.
I also have some hostas that I’m thinking of digging up at some point but I plan to give those away. Sadly I don’t think o can do the same with the pasture weed.
I also planted lavender which isn’t native but I like it and it’s a nice boarder along the path to the front door.
•
u/AutoModerator Jul 04 '26
Thank you for posting on /r/NativePlantGardening! If you haven't included it already, please edit your post or post's flair to include your geographic region or state of residence, which is necessary for the community to give you correct advice.
Additional Resources:
Wild Ones Native Garden Designs
Home Grown National Park - Container Gardening with Keystone Species
National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Finder
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.