06/17/2026
An estimated 10% of cultivated plants escape their original plantings. Sticking to non-aggressive native species means you can garden guilt-free!
This time of year, many people are selling plants through Facebook Marketplace, gardening groups, etc. BUT BUYER BEWARE! Some of the plants being sold are invasive and if planted in your yard, may end up causing you massive headaches. Even worse, if they escape into a nearby natural area, they can cause enormous ecological harm.
So what can you do? Before you buy, sell, give away, or put in the ground any plant, doublecheck to make sure it is not invasive. And dispose of invasive plant material responsibly: Seal in a black plastic trash bag, put in the sun for two weeks, then put in the trash. Exception: Japanese knotweed. Find our JK post at cleannorth.org for more info on that species.
Another thing to think about is even if the plant is not invasive, if it's growing in a yard with invasive species they may hitch a ride in the soil (roots, seeds). So before you buy, ask what other plants are growing around the plant being sold. The last thing you want is to accidentally introduce Japanese knotweed or goutweed into your yard! Tip: Ask the seller to rootwash the plant before they give it to you. That will drastically reduce the risk of transporting invasives.
The reason many people are selling invasive plants is because those plants are growing out of control in THEIR yards. They don't stop to think that maybe passing that problem on to other gardeners is not the best choice.
Pretty much every natural area in Sault Ste. Marie is being overrun with invasive garden plants. So let's try to not make that problem worse. Find native alternatives to plant instead. See the Clean North Sault/Algoma Grow Me Instead Guide at cleannorth.org for more info.
