04/11/2024
NATIVE ALTERNATIVES to Invasive Asian Wisteria
The Japanese and Chinese species of wisteria are often selected for their showy flowers and fragrance, but both cause problems because of their invasive spread beyond cultivation. Several native alternatives can provide beauty while supporting butterflies and hummingbirds with nectar.
*American Wisteria (Wisteria frutescens), while not fragrant, is a good replacement vine with similar pendant racemes of violet-blue flowers.
*Pinxterbloom Azalea (Rhododendron periclymenoides), a shrub of 6 to 12 feet can be a substitute species for fragrance in the garden. It has clusters of tubular pink flowers that are attractive to bees.
*Woodland Phlox (Phlox divaricata), a colony-forming wildflower, has clusters of lavender, pink, or white fragrant flowers in April and May.
Learn more these plants from fact sheets under Tried & True Native Plants at MGNV.ORG.