No Grow! Plants

Some of the plants listed below are sold in nurseries and garden stores. DO NOT BUY THEM! We know that these species are weeds because they were vetted using the Hawaii Pacific Weed Risk Assessment (HPWRA). They may seem attractive, which is why they’re often bought by homeowners and landscapers. While these plants are (sometimes) manageable when contained in someone’s yard, they can easily grow out of control in the wild. Invasive weeds take over the spaces of native plants and become a nuisance for everyone. Once planted, it can be nearly impossible to contain a plant from spreading.

Each No Grow plant has particularly harmful invasive traits such as: being shade tolerant, being able to produce viable seed that is either wind-dispersed/dispersed by animals/ dispersed by water, being a prolific seed producer, and having seeds persist in the seed bank for more than a year. Plants on the no-grow list are in the horticulture trade and have naturalization records in the state.