What Ordinary Landscaping Plants Are Harmful to Michigan Forests?

There are some ordinary landscaping plants that have turned out to be very harmful to Michigan forests and you may have some of these in your yard.

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Landscaping Your Home or Business

Landscaping your home or business can bring up its value, plus it's very nice to look at when you have visitors coming to your door.

Landscaping is hard work and usually, the goal is to find plants, trees, and bushes that are easy to take care of and will grow back year after year.

I have been working on my landscaping for a couple of springs now and it's getting better. What you don't see in the picture above of some bushes that are down at the other end and on the backside of the house that I learned can be damaging to Michigan's forests.

There Are 2 Common Landscaping Plants That Are Harmful to Michigan Forests

Being an avid outdoorsman in Michigan, the last thing I want to do is harm any of the neighboring forest lands near me with something I planted.

Japanese barberry is one of the plants in question. I have two of these in the front landscaping and two of them in the back. There are beautiful little bushes that are easy to take care of but I never thought about the birds eating the berries from the bushes and then when they fly elsewhere their droppings plant the seeds.

According to MLive, these invasive plants will take root and grow in places not far from your property and if you are not looking for them, you may not even notice. Clinton and Manistee counties are already having problems with them. These bushes can take root and take over an area from what nature had intended to be there.

Winged burning bush is the other culprit. Although I didn't plant any of these, I was thinking about it because they are beautiful and can really add some color to your landscape. I will find something else that won't cause a problem to the local ecosystem.

The winged burning bush has not become a big problem yet but it will down the road. So if you are doing any planting or have a winged burning bush or barberry bushes, you may want to keep an eye are your surrounding areas, not plant them, or dig up the ones you have. I will be looking for replacements for the 4 I currently have on my property since I live so close to federal land.