Commonly asked questions about PlantRight, about invasive plants, and about our programs are found below. Use the table of contents to jump directly to a topic. If you still have questions, please contact us.
PlantRight is a voluntary campaign to help California’s horticultural industry address the costly problem of invasive garden plants in the trade — in ways that are good for business and the environment. PlantRight provides free, science-based training and resources about invasive garden plant issues and opportunities. PlantRight is guided by a steering committee called California Horticultural Invasives Prevention (Cal-HIP).
PlantRight was established in 2005 by the non-profit organization Sustainable Conservation in conjunction with an alliance of leaders from the horticulture industry, environmental groups, scientists, academics and government agencies. This group, known as California Horticultural Invasives Prevention (Cal-HIP), acts as a steering committee for the project and convenes on a quarterly basis to address the costly and serious issue of invasive plants being sold by nurseries and garden centers in our state. Since its inception, PlantRight has collaborated with leaders in the California horticultural industry to reduce the negative environmental and economic impacts of invasive plants via voluntary, cost-effective methods. In 2019, the new home of PlantRight became Plant California Alliance, which was formed through the merger of the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers, and the Nursery Growers Association.
PlantRight is currently funded by a grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
PlantRight was designed by a broad alliance of leaders from the horticulture industry, environmental groups, scientists, academics and government agencies. This group, known as California Horticultural Invasives Prevention (Cal-HIP), acts as a steering committee for the project and convenes on a quarterly basis to advance its mission. Comprised of credentialed scientists and experienced horticulturalists, PlantRight’s multi-stakeholder steering committee provides high-level expertise on a wide range of invasive plant issues.
PlantRight’s model is also widely regarded as a solution that could be effectively applied beyond California’s borders. More specifically, PlantRight has been recognized:
In addition to providing educational content about invasive plants in California and partnering with retail nurseries, we are tackling the issue of invasives head on by:
Cal-HIP stands for California Horticultural Invasives Prevention, the multi-stakeholder group that guides the PlantRight campaign. Learn more about the Cal-HIP steering committee here.
Cal-HIP relies on the time, energy, and expertise of all the steering committee members. The PlantRight Project Manager, located at Plant California Alliance, facilitates and manages the group.
Absolutely. Cal-HIP is a collaborative, voluntary group that involves the horticultural industry in every decision. Recommendations are based on scientific information, and Cal-HIP has a transparent and inclusive process for addressing this important issue. We invite everyone to join us in the dialogue about providing invasive garden plant solutions.
The term “invasive plant” describes an introduced species that out-competes native plants and animals for space and resources – and is often difficult to remove or control. Learn more about what invasive plants are and their effects.
No! There are countless beautiful non-native plants that are not invasive. In fact, most of the species we use in our gardens and landscaping are originally from other places, and you will find many of them in our lists of recommended alternatives to invasive plants. If you are interested in learning more about native plant options, please see the California Native Plant Society website and use their tool Calscape, which will show you what plants are native to your area, what conditions they need to thrive, and where you may purchase them.
A few vigorous horticultural plants can escape from cultivation into open landscapes and cause a variety of ecological problems. They crowd out native plants, insects and animals, and can lead to flooding, fire and crop losses. Invasive species are a leading threat to biodiversity, second only to habitat destruction. Invasive plants are expensive, too – in California, more than $82 million goes to fighting invasive plants every year. Read more about the effect of invasive plants.
California’s wildlands are new territory for these plants, and they don’t have the predators that normally limit their growth in their home environment. This allows them to proliferate, spread, and overtake natural habitat. Each invasive plant has its own strategy for growth and dispersal. Some have seeds that are spread by the wind, like pampas grass, whose seeds can be blown up to two miles away. Others have seeds that are carried by water or eaten by birds and animals that deposit them far from the parent plant. There are also species that reproduce vegetatively, like Vinca major that sprouts new shoots rhizomatically (including recently uprooted plants — take care when disposing of these so they don’t take root in a new location!).
Yes! There are many excellent plant species that can replace an invasive species in a garden or landscape. Learning about invasives is an invitation to be creative and promote new plants to customers. This website lists recommended alternatives to the invaders in your region that are beautiful, vigorous, and appropriate for the local climate.
Not at all. There are so many non-invasive, ornamental plants available today that a definitive list of viable alternatives would be exhaustive. PlantRight makes its recommendations by carefully selecting comparable, non-invasive plants that closely match the desirable traits of a targeted invasive, but you may prefer to use other non-invasive varieties instead. If you have a suggestion for our recommended alternatives list, let us know!
PlantRight’s regionally specific list is the result of a collaborative and science-based effort that reflects the expertise of leading horticultural professionals, plant scientists, and government representatives in California. Several of these representatives sit on PlantRight’s Plant List Committee, whose members are listed here.
We first created our list in 2006 by paring down the California Invasive Plant Council’s (Cal-IPC) list to include only those invasive plants still used in California’s nursery trade. We then applied various criteria to decide whether to add the resulting plants to PlantRight’s list, including the plant’s geographic range, potential environmental impact, and financial significance to the nursery trade. The resulting list of plants represents the garden invasives whose removal from nursery inventories could be offset by readily available alternatives and whose negative impacts could be scientifically substantiated.
Yes. Starting in 2014, PlantRight began updating its list on an annual basis, taking an increasingly science-based and preventative approach. By employing our Plant Risk Evaluation tool, for instance, we can determine the invasive risk of a plant – whether or not it is a well-established problem in California, on its way to becoming so, or not a concern.
PlantRight’s list changes when new invasive plants are identified through research or field experience, and when existing invasive plants are phased out of the horticultural trade.
Yes. By utilizing the Plant Risk Evaluation (PRE) tool, developed with plant scientists at University of Washington and University of California at Davis,we can identify plants that are at high-risk of becoming invasive and are considered new or “emerging” invasives. Emerging invasives are those beginning to invade a small, yet growing number of geographic regions of the state. By identifying emerging invasives we are able to prevent further spread of these problem plants, saving time, money and resources (and reputations!) that would otherwise be spent on eradication efforts that are less efficient, more costly and often more toxic.
The Cal-IPC list includes all types of invasive plants that are found in our state, while PlantRight’s list only represents those that are still planted as ornamentals for use in gardens and landscaping.
PlantRight’s list was created as a starting point for effectively engaging California’s nursery industry on the issue of invasive plants. As a result, it does not encompass all horticultural invasive plants, in all parts of the state. If you know of a plant that is invasive in your region and it is not listed by PlantRight, we encourage your store to sell a non-invasive alternative instead that is more appropriate for your local climate.
We encourage you to remove the invasive plant, especially if you are near natural areas. It is easy to find beautiful, non-invasive alternative plants at your local garden center or get some ideas here. To learn more about how to remove problem plants, the California Invasive Plant Council has information on removal techniques and conducts wildland weed workshops. We’d love to hear about your invasive plant removal and replacement project — please send photos or comments so we can encourage others to do the same!
Typically, each land manager is responsible for invasive control on their properties. Traditionally, local stakeholders, be they individuals or land managers have identified, through quarterly coordination meetings of the Weed Management Areas (WMA), invasive species of high concern for the region as well as management goals for those species.
WMAs were formed such that land managers would discuss and prioritize their efforts at the landscape scale so that Land Manager A wasn’t trying to eradicate a species like pampas grass while up-wind of him there were a slew of populations on Land Manager B’s that weren’t being managed and were a steady seed source for the spread on Land Manager A’s property, etc. Unfortunately, WMAs lost funding in 2012, but they regained funding recently and many have restarted their work. In the year 2000, there were fewer than 20 groups statewide—today there are 48 covering all counties.
The horticultural plants identified by PlantRight were carefully analyzed using objective, scientific criteria, including information on existing invasions and their effects on wildland areas. Some invasive species have unanswered questions – and before making recommendations about these plants, we are working with researchers and scientists to get solid information that can help guide our actions. We have added plants that we have considered for addition to the plant list, but that were not added, to our list of Plants to Watch.
A good place to begin is by reviewing PlantRight’s list of invasives online, which includes information about each targeted plant, as well as links to additional information and resources. If you have a specific question about the list, feel free to contact us.
Retailers, growers, propagators, landscape professionals and all home gardeners. Gardeners can have gorgeous, happy gardens AND protect the environment by Planting Right. Landscaping professionals, retail nurseries, and growers can boost business with eco-friendly practices and by “partnering” with PlantRight. Resource managers and weed their lands by sharing the PlantRight program with their community. Everyone plays a role in protecting California’s local economies and open spaces from invasive garden plants!
PlantRight is a voluntary campaign to help California’s horticultural industry address the costly problem of invasive garden plants in the trade — in ways that are good for business and the environment. PlantRight provides free, science-based training and resources about invasive garden plant issues and opportunities. PlantRight is guided by a steering committee called California Horticultural Invasives Prevention (Cal-HIP).
PlantRight was established in 2005 by the non-profit organization Sustainable Conservation in conjunction with an alliance of leaders from the horticulture industry, environmental groups, scientists, academics and government agencies. This group, known as California Horticultural Invasives Prevention (Cal-HIP), acts as a steering committee for the project and convenes on a quarterly basis to address the costly and serious issue of invasive plants being sold by nurseries and garden centers in our state. Since its inception, PlantRight has collaborated with leaders in the California horticultural industry to reduce the negative environmental and economic impacts of invasive plants via voluntary, cost-effective methods. In 2019, the new home of PlantRight became Plant California Alliance, which was formed through the merger of the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers, and the Nursery Growers Association.
PlantRight is currently funded by a grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
PlantRight was designed by a broad alliance of leaders from the horticulture industry, environmental groups, scientists, academics and government agencies. This group, known as California Horticultural Invasives Prevention (Cal-HIP), acts as a steering committee for the project and convenes on a quarterly basis to advance its mission. Comprised of credentialed scientists and experienced horticulturalists, PlantRight’s multi-stakeholder steering committee provides high-level expertise on a wide range of invasive plant issues.
PlantRight’s model is also widely regarded as a solution that could be effectively applied beyond California’s borders. More specifically, PlantRight has been recognized:
In addition to providing educational content about invasive plants in California and partnering with retail nurseries, we are tackling the issue of invasives head on by:
Cal-HIP stands for California Horticultural Invasives Prevention, the multi-stakeholder group that guides the PlantRight campaign. Learn more about the Cal-HIP steering committee here.
Cal-HIP relies on the time, energy, and expertise of all the steering committee members. The PlantRight Project Manager, located at Plant California Alliance, facilitates and manages the group.
Absolutely. Cal-HIP is a collaborative, voluntary group that involves the horticultural industry in every decision. Recommendations are based on scientific information, and Cal-HIP has a transparent and inclusive process for addressing this important issue. We invite everyone to join us in the dialogue about providing invasive garden plant solutions.
The term “invasive plant” describes an introduced species that out-competes native plants and animals for space and resources – and is often difficult to remove or control. Learn more about what invasive plants are and their effects.
No! There are countless beautiful non-native plants that are not invasive. In fact, most of the species we use in our gardens and landscaping are originally from other places, and you will find many of them in our lists of recommended alternatives to invasive plants. If you are interested in learning more about native plant options, please see the California Native Plant Society website and use their tool Calscape, which will show you what plants are native to your area, what conditions they need to thrive, and where you may purchase them.
A few vigorous horticultural plants can escape from cultivation into open landscapes and cause a variety of ecological problems. They crowd out native plants, insects and animals, and can lead to flooding, fire and crop losses. Invasive species are a leading threat to biodiversity, second only to habitat destruction. Invasive plants are expensive, too – in California, more than $82 million goes to fighting invasive plants every year. Read more about the effect of invasive plants.
California’s wildlands are new territory for these plants, and they don’t have the predators that normally limit their growth in their home environment. This allows them to proliferate, spread, and overtake natural habitat. Each invasive plant has its own strategy for growth and dispersal. Some have seeds that are spread by the wind, like pampas grass, whose seeds can be blown up to two miles away. Others have seeds that are carried by water or eaten by birds and animals that deposit them far from the parent plant. There are also species that reproduce vegetatively, like Vinca major that sprouts new shoots rhizomatically (including recently uprooted plants — take care when disposing of these so they don’t take root in a new location!).
Yes! There are many excellent plant species that can replace an invasive species in a garden or landscape. Learning about invasives is an invitation to be creative and promote new plants to customers. This website lists recommended alternatives to the invaders in your region that are beautiful, vigorous, and appropriate for the local climate.
Not at all. There are so many non-invasive, ornamental plants available today that a definitive list of viable alternatives would be exhaustive. PlantRight makes its recommendations by carefully selecting comparable, non-invasive plants that closely match the desirable traits of a targeted invasive, but you may prefer to use other non-invasive varieties instead. If you have a suggestion for our recommended alternatives list, let us know!
PlantRight’s regionally specific list is the result of a collaborative and science-based effort that reflects the expertise of leading horticultural professionals, plant scientists, and government representatives in California. Several of these representatives sit on PlantRight’s Plant List Committee, whose members are listed here.
We first created our list in 2006 by paring down the California Invasive Plant Council’s (Cal-IPC) list to include only those invasive plants still used in California’s nursery trade. We then applied various criteria to decide whether to add the resulting plants to PlantRight’s list, including the plant’s geographic range, potential environmental impact, and financial significance to the nursery trade. The resulting list of plants represents the garden invasives whose removal from nursery inventories could be offset by readily available alternatives and whose negative impacts could be scientifically substantiated.
Yes. Starting in 2014, PlantRight began updating its list on an annual basis, taking an increasingly science-based and preventative approach. By employing our Plant Risk Evaluation tool, for instance, we can determine the invasive risk of a plant – whether or not it is a well-established problem in California, on its way to becoming so, or not a concern.
PlantRight’s list changes when new invasive plants are identified through research or field experience, and when existing invasive plants are phased out of the horticultural trade.
Yes. By utilizing the Plant Risk Evaluation (PRE) tool, developed with plant scientists at University of Washington and University of California at Davis,we can identify plants that are at high-risk of becoming invasive and are considered new or “emerging” invasives. Emerging invasives are those beginning to invade a small, yet growing number of geographic regions of the state. By identifying emerging invasives we are able to prevent further spread of these problem plants, saving time, money and resources (and reputations!) that would otherwise be spent on eradication efforts that are less efficient, more costly and often more toxic.
The Cal-IPC list includes all types of invasive plants that are found in our state, while PlantRight’s list only represents those that are still planted as ornamentals for use in gardens and landscaping.
PlantRight’s list was created as a starting point for effectively engaging California’s nursery industry on the issue of invasive plants. As a result, it does not encompass all horticultural invasive plants, in all parts of the state. If you know of a plant that is invasive in your region and it is not listed by PlantRight, we encourage your store to sell a non-invasive alternative instead that is more appropriate for your local climate.
We encourage you to remove the invasive plant, especially if you are near natural areas. It is easy to find beautiful, non-invasive alternative plants at your local garden center or get some ideas here. To learn more about how to remove problem plants, the California Invasive Plant Council has information on removal techniques and conducts wildland weed workshops. We’d love to hear about your invasive plant removal and replacement project — please send photos or comments so we can encourage others to do the same!
Typically, each land manager is responsible for invasive control on their properties. Traditionally, local stakeholders, be they individuals or land managers have identified, through quarterly coordination meetings of the Weed Management Areas (WMA), invasive species of high concern for the region as well as management goals for those species.
WMAs were formed such that land managers would discuss and prioritize their efforts at the landscape scale so that Land Manager A wasn’t trying to eradicate a species like pampas grass while up-wind of him there were a slew of populations on Land Manager B’s that weren’t being managed and were a steady seed source for the spread on Land Manager A’s property, etc. Unfortunately, WMAs lost funding in 2012, but they regained funding recently and many have restarted their work. In the year 2000, there were fewer than 20 groups statewide—today there are 48 covering all counties.
The horticultural plants identified by PlantRight were carefully analyzed using objective, scientific criteria, including information on existing invasions and their effects on wildland areas. Some invasive species have unanswered questions – and before making recommendations about these plants, we are working with researchers and scientists to get solid information that can help guide our actions. We have added plants that we have considered for addition to the plant list, but that were not added, to our list of Plants to Watch.
A good place to begin is by reviewing PlantRight’s list of invasives online, which includes information about each targeted plant, as well as links to additional information and resources. If you have a specific question about the list, feel free to contact us.
Retailers, growers, propagators, landscape professionals and all home gardeners. Gardeners can have gorgeous, happy gardens AND protect the environment by Planting Right. Landscaping professionals, retail nurseries, and growers can boost business with eco-friendly practices and by “partnering” with PlantRight. Resource managers and weed their lands by sharing the PlantRight program with their community. Everyone plays a role in protecting California’s local economies and open spaces from invasive garden plants!
You, and your business, recognize that it’s possible to “do right” by the environment without making sacrifices to your bottom line. Specifically, you believe it’s important to help your customers make more informed purchasing decisions when it comes to regionally appropriate and non-invasive plants. PlantRight’s research-based training and educational resources help your staff, customers and vendors stay informed about the serious impacts caused by invasive plants, and better equips us to make a difference, together.
Congratulations on being in the forefront of the horticultural industry! Partnering with PlantRight further demonstrates to your staff, customers and community that your business cares about the environment and actively promotes more sustainable landscaping and gardening practices. By being officially recognized as a PlantRight partner, your business can garner even more positive goodwill, publicity, and customer loyalty.
Store owners or managers are asked to register their store and invite all staff who are involved in plant purchasing decisions to participate. This registration takes approximately ten minutes in total.
The staff who complete the PlantRight 101 training and test should set aside 20-30 minutes.
This course is designed specifically with plant buyers and customer-facing sales staff in mind, but all store staff are welcome to participate. All plant buyers at a retail nursery are required to pass the test.
PlantRight 101 will help you understand the invasive plant issues and opportunities that affect our state and our industry. And the knowledge you gain will help you better support your customers’ desire to adopt more sustainable gardening practices.
At this time, yes, and Internet access is required. If this is an issue, contact us and we can evaluate if there are other options that will work for your business.
When budgeting your time, please set aside approximately 30-minutes to complete the PlantRight 101 training and test.
No problem. The study materials remain available and the test can be retaken as many times as it takes for a staff person to answer all ten questions correctly.
We welcome feedback and would love to hear from you. Contact us anytime with suggestions.
PlantRight is a fully funded project of Plant California Alliance. Benefits provided through this partnership program are funded through a grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
New plant species, changes in gardening trends, and expanding knowledge about invasive plants may lead us to update our list. In cases where a partner store is selling a specific plant when we add it to our list, that store will be given 90 days to phase the identified plant out of its inventory. This time can also be used to alert vendors and customers to the change. In addition, PlantRight will develop and distribute a list of more suitable, non-invasive plants to consider using instead.
PlantRight plans to update its invasives list at times of the year that will minimize impacts on nurseries.
The PlantRight Pledge is a public commitment to not sell any plants listed as invasive on the PlantRight list and is a printable document. When displayed, the PlantRight Pledge is a small, yet important way to show that your store “walks the talk” when it comes to helping customers make more environmentally conscious and sustainable choices.
In keeping with our science-based approach, PlantRight is still researching the issue of sterility and has not taken an official stance or position on sterile varieties of invasive plants. That said, stores that partner with PlantRight are discouraged from selling sterile varieties of the invasive plants on our list because there is no standard for what constitutes a sterile plant – and some can still produce fertile offspring.
Except for sterile cultivars and some cultivars (e.g. Vinca major ‘Variegata’), PlantRight considers all cultivars of invasive plants to be invasive as well. Stores that partner with PlantRight will be expected to avoid selling these plants.
This course is designed specifically with nursery and landscaping professionals, members of professional associations, gardening communities, and concerned citizen scientists in mind; however, any interested member of the public is welcome to participate.
PlantRight 101 will help you understand the invasive plant issues and opportunities that affect our state and our industry. The knowledge you gain will help you communicate with colleagues, clients, and retailers and garden centers in your community about this topic. After completing the Continuing Education Program, graduates are given the opportunity to become official PlantRight Ambassadors to help spread the word about our programs and encourage members of the industry to adopt more sustainable gardening practices.
When budgeting your time, please set aside approximately 30-minutes to complete the PlantRight 101 training and quiz.
At this time, yes, Internet access is required. If this is an issue, contact us and we can evaluate if there are other options that will work for your business.
No problem. The study materials remain available and the test can be retaken as many times as needed to answer all the questions correctly.
PlantRight is a fully funded project of Plant California Alliance. Benefits provided through this partnership program are funded through a grant from the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
We welcome feedback and would love to hear from you. Contact us anytime with suggestions.