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Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants

Invasive Plant

Ranunculus ficaria · Lesser Celandine

Ranunculus ficaria

Current Invaded Range: New Hampshire to Michigan, south to Virginia and Missouri; British Columbia to Oregon




Native Alternative

Chrysogonum virginianum · Green-and-Gold

Chrysogonum virginianum

Attributes at a Glance

Chrysogonum virginianum

  • Starry yellow flowers in spring and summer
  • Velvety deep-green foliage

Native Habitat and Range

Open woods, clearings, and roadsides from Quebec, south to Florida and Louisiana

Hardiness Range

Zones 4 to 8

Ornamental Attributes and Uses

This low, spreading groundcover, four to eight inches tall and two to three feet wide, forms a star-studded mat of velvety foliage that is as attractive at the front of a formal border as it is in a naturalistic sitting. Each flower is composed of a button of small disc flowers surrounded by five to seven bright yellow rays. It blooms from spring through midsummer, expanding in height and spread as the season progresses. The felted foliage may be evergreen to semideciduous, depending on the botanical variety. This plant is rare over much of its natural range.

Growing Tips

Plant green-and-gold in average to rich, sandy, or loamy soils in full sun to partial shade. It spreads steadily to form broad, virtually weed-free mats. Where summers are hot and humid, the plant is susceptible to crown or root rot. Avoid mulches and crowding to minimize these problems. There are a number of selections available, many of which are superior to the species in form and adaptability.

More Native Alternatives

Zizia aptera, heart-leaf Alexanders—New York to British Columbia, south to Georgia and Nevada. For a list of additional native herbaceous plants, visit www.bbg.org/nativealternatives.

C. Colston Burrell is a garden designer, photographer, naturalist, and award-winning author. He gardens on ten wild acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville, Virginia, where he grows natives and the best plants of the global garden. He is principal of Native Landscape Design and Restoration, which specializes in blending nature and culture through artistic design. Cole has written many books on gardening and plants, and he is a contributing editor for Horticulture and writes regularly for Fine Gardening, Landscape Architecture, and American Gardener. He has edited or contributed to more than a dozen Brooklyn Botanic Garden handbooks, including most recently Intimate Gardens (2005), Spring-Blooming Bulbs (2002), and The Sunny Border (2002). In addition to writing, Cole lectures in the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia as well as internationally on topics of design, plants, and ecology, drawing from a lifetime of studying native plants in the wild and in gardens as well as from his experience as a curator at the U.S. National Arboretum and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

Photo credits, in order of appearance: Chuck Bargeron and Jerry Pavia