top of page
Native Plant Alternatives
(Plant This Instead)
Maryland Native Plants
Virginia Native Plants
Chesapeake Bay Native Plants
Check out this list of non-native plants and their native alternatives so you can find just the right plant for your garden. Use the Search button to the lower right to look for a plant on this list. You can also search the full site by using the search field at the top right of the page to find more info and native plant posts on many of the plants listed here.
Non-Natives | Native Alternatives |
|---|---|
Alberta spruce | Northern white cedar (dwarf to full size) |
Alyssum | Creeping phlox |
Anemone | Amsonia (plant shape/size/fall color), Aster (bloom time) |
Agapanthus | Blue hyssop |
Ajuga | Penstemon (foliage rosette), Lyreleaf sage (foliage rosette) |
Andromeda | Mountain laurel |
Angelina stonecrop | Sedum ternatum |
Artemisia | Silver sedge |
Autumn clematis | Clematis virginiana |
Autumn Fern | Christmas fern, Northern lady fern |
Autumn Joy Sedum | Joe pye weed (bloom time/bloom color), Blue mist flower (bloom time) |
Azalea (white) | Swamp azalea, Sweet azalea |
Azalea(pale pink) | Piedmont azalea |
Azalea (orange) | Florida flame azalea, Plum azalea |
Bamboo | Horsetail |
Beautyberry | American beautyberry |
Bearded Iris | Blue flag iris |
Bleeding heart | Wild bleeding heart |
Boston ivy | Virginia creeper |
Boxwood | Inkberry |
Bradford pear | Serviceberry, Dogwood |
Brunnera | Virginia bluebells, Ginger, Hepatica |
Burning bush | Blueberry, Winterberry, Strawberry bush |
Butterfly bush | Agastache, Joepye weed |
Carex (variegated) | Silver sedge, Seersucker sedge, Pennsylvania sedge |
Caryopteris | Baptisia australis |
Catmint | Agastache |
Cherry Laurel | Mountain laurel, Inkberry, Rhododendron, Hemlock |
Cherry Tree | American crabapple, Redbud, Hawthorne |
Climbing hydrangea | Wood vamp |
Colorado blue spruce | Fothergilla, Eastern red cedar |
Cotoneaster horizontalis | "Grey Owl" juniper |
Creeping jenny | Sedum ternatum, Tiarella cordifolia |
Crepe myrtle | Redbud, River Birch |
Daffodil | Celandine poppy, Columbine |
Daphne | Chokeberry |
Day Lilly | Butterfly weed, Coneflower, Turk's Cap Lily, St. John's Wort |
Delphinium | Blue Cardinal flower |
Deutzia | Chokeberry |
Dixie wood fern | Ostrich fern |
Doublefile viburnum | Smooth witherod (Viburnum Nudum) |
Edgeworthia | Oakleaf hydrangea, Fothergilla |
Emerald and gold euonymous | Green and gold (Chrysogunum virginianum) |
Euonymous | Strawberry bush (American eunoymous) |
Euphorbia | Amsonia |
Forsythia | Spicebush |
Fountain grass | Muhly grass |
Foxglove | Baptisia, Larkspur, Blue Lobelia |
Gladiolus | Liatris |
Globe amaranth | Alllium cernuum |
Grape hyacinth | Camassia Scilloides |
Hakone grass | Seersucker sedge, Heuchera "Autumn Bride" |
Honeysuckle | Trumpet hoenysuckle (Lonicera sempivirens) |
Hellebore | Trout lily |
Hosta | Christmas Fern, Heuchera ‘Autumn Bride,’ Ostrich Fern |
Hinoki cypress | Eastern red cedar, American holly |
Hydrangea | Oakleaf hydrangea, Smooth hydrangea (hydrangea arborescens) |
Ivy | Christmas fern, American pachysandra, Green and gold |
Japanese holly | Inkberry |
Japanese maple | Dogwood |
Japanese painted fern | Lady fern |
Japanese pieris | Mountain laurel |
Japanese rose | St. John's Wort |
Japanese white pine | Easern white pine, dwarf eastern white pine |
Japanese willow | Pussy willow (Salix discolor) |
Kerria japonica | Spicebush |
Korean spice viburnum | Smooth Witherod (Vinurnum nudum) |
Kousa dogwood | American dogwood |
Kwanzan cherry tree | Hawthorne, Serviceberry |
Lavender | Agastache, Lyreleaf sage |
Leyland cypress | Eastrn red cedar, Northern white cedar |
Ligustrum | Rhododendron, Mountain laurel |
Liriope | Silver sedge, Seersucker sedge, Pennsylvania sedge |
Lupine | Blue cardinal flower |
Magnolia | Sweetbay magnolia, Southern magnolia |
Mimosa tree | White fringe tree |
Mondo grass | Silver sedge, Seersucker sedge, Pennsylvania sedge |
Montauk daisy | Common milkweed |
Mums | New York Iron weed, Eastern silvery aster, Raydon's Favorite Aster |
Nandina | Inkberry, Winterberry |
Quince | Spicebush (early spring bloom) |
Orange New Zealand Sedge | Prairie dropseed grass |
Oregon Grape Holly | American holly |
Oriental poppy | Celandine poppy |
Osmanthus | American holly |
Pachysandra | Allegheny spurge |
Papyrus plant | Horsetail |
Plumbago | Phlox stolonifera (groundcover) |
Privet | Rododenron, Mountain laurel |
Purple fountain grass | Muhly grass |
Pyracantha | American holly |
Red salvia | Cardinal flower |
Reticulated iris | Dwarf crested iris |
Rock cotoneaster | "Grey Owl' juniper |
Rose | Rosa Carolina |
Rose of sharon | Summersweet, Crimson eyed rose mallow (hardy hibisucus), Swamp rose mallow |
Russian sage | Anise Hyssop |
Salvia | Anise Hyssop, Lyreleaf sage |
Siberian bugloss | Virginia bluebells (bloom color/time, ginger (leaf shape) |
Snap Dragon | Penstemon, Turtlehead |
bottom of page