PlantRight releases 2016 list of California invasive plants

PlantRight has released its 2016 list of horticulturally invasive plants, which is available to view or download here.

As in the past, this list includes the organization’s top priority (i.e. most commonly sold) invasive garden plants in California, along with more than 30 non-invasive plants that serve as exceptional alternatives.

The seven plants chosen for the 2016 list are periwinkle, highway iceplant, water hyacinth, yellow water iris, pampas grass, Mexican feathergrass, green fountain grass. The list displays the climate zones in which the plants are considered invasive, along with several alternatives for each plant.

PlantRight also announced it “retired” three new plants this year, after being found at fewer than 1 percent of nurseries. These plants are still invasive, and should not be used for gardening or landscaping in climate zones where they are problematic, but are no longer our highest priorities.

To date, 15 of the 19 plants on PlantRight’s first list (developed in 2006) have been retired. However, the organization is now focused on plants like Mexican feathergrass (Nassella tenuissima), green fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum), and periwinkle (Vinca major), which remain popular among gardeners throughout the state.

If you are interested in learning more about the process behind the list, please visit: PlantRight.org/process-updating-list.

PlantRight was founded in 2005 to address the ongoing sale of invasive garden plants in California in an environmentally sound and economically viable manner. Though more than half of California's invasive plants were originally introduced through horticultural channels, no cohesive effort previously existed to work with the nursery industry to prevent the spread of invasive plants in the state.