Here's a nice description (including definition and further explanation) about what makes plants "invasive":
https://landscaping.about.com/cs/lazylandscaping/g/invasiveplant.htm
Invasive plants are almost universally non-native species to the region where they become "invasive," and many who have studied this (including the USDA, in discussion sites at the url I gave yesterday) feel that this is because natural predators and weather conditions which have previously kept a given plant in check are absent in its new home.
Example: kudzu. Kudzu is invasive in the American South and has now spread up to at least Virginia and over to Louisiana. I'm not sure of its current northwest bound. Kudzu was imported from Japan in the early 1900s as an erosion-control plant.
Unfortunately for the South, hard freezes--which were common in Japan--were much less common in Dixie. Hot weather and plentiful rain, which weren't in such abundant supply in Japan, were also available to kudzu in the South. There must be predatory insects/birds/animals and perhaps even disease or negative soil conditions for kudzu in Japan which also kept it under control, leading the Powers That Were in the early 1900s to settle upon it as their Chosen Plant.
None of these natural restrictors of kudzu were taken into account when the plant was imported to the U.S.
That's one example of the difference between a "well-behaved plant" (kudzu in Japan) and an "invasive plant" (kudzu in the South).
Pampas grass, Yellow Star Thistle, Scotch broom...many plants have been imported to California and are threatening the very last natural live oak/meadow habitats here, to the detriment of birds and other wildlife dependent on these ecosystems.
If you have a choice NOT to plant an invasive species, please observe that choice.
You've probably guessed by now that I had an "unfortunate kudzu experience" while I lived in Atlanta.
You're right! But that one only lasted two or three years (one particular residence). Unlike my experience with Bermuda grass in the '80s, I did *not* beat the kudzu.
I gave up, due to the pressures of working my way through college while taking classes. I just cut it back from the front stairs and my windows and asked the landlord if he could do something about it. (He didn't.)
And I've discussed elsewhere at THG my unfortunate, and ongoing, English ivy experience in Berkeley ( over 15 years).
Given all the native plants in the Great Lakes region, there must be something quite wonderful
that's suited to your yard, weather, soil, etc. Maybe a local independent gardening store could tell you about the Native Plant Society nearby; they'd for sure be able to give you some leads.
Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17
