Though lush shrubs and flowering plants can boost a home’s curb appeal, some have a reputation for being destructive to lawns, growing quickly and requiring a lot of maintenance. “The wrong plantings end up competing with local varieties for light, water, and nutrients—and some invasive shrubs even bully native bushes, preventing them from growing altogether,” Craig Jenkins-Sutton, president and co-founder of landscape design firm Topiarius, told realtor.com®. The site recently flagged some of the common plant offenders to landscapes, including:
Wisteria: Some of the Chinese and Japanese varieties of the flowering vine can be invasive, growing up to 60 feet tall. Jenkins-Sutton recommends cutting it back in the late summer after the flowering ends and clipping all the side shoots and long tendrils to three to four inches, or six buds. He says this will help prevent it from blocking light near a house or getting under roofs and gutters.
Bamboo: This plant is often used as a privacy screen, but it’s also known to attract invasive bugs and plant disease. Bamboo can grow several feet in one year and spread into neighboring yards. It also can damage underground utilities, Jenkins-Sutton told realtor.com®.
English ivy: This plant spreads quickly and is often blamed for causing tree or mortar damage. “It establishes a monoculture, which means it dominates an area at the expense of all others, and, left unchecked, will blanket forest floors, suffocate plant seedlings, and smother trees,” says Jenkins-Sutton.
