Are they invasive? Not legally in the state of Illinois. (Yet!) But we are seeing Callery pear and burning bush escape from our yards into natural areas across the state. Today Ken and Chris talk about these two plants, give some background, and then what we can plant instead of these baddies! Watch us and see some pictures of the plants we mention on YouTube https://youtu.be/NcI0Q11AD0o Check out this article from Arnold Arboretum on the history and spread of Callery pear tree https://arboretum.harvard.edu/stories/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-ornamental-callery-pear-tree/ Skip to what you want to know: 0:30 Hey Ken! Here comes the first freeze of 2022 2:22 The difference between invasive and aggressive and are plants really bad? 4:00 Kicking things off with the naughty Callery pear (aka Bradford pear or ornamental pear) and all the reasons you should kill yours! 5:45 A history of Callery pear, how it got here, and how it spread everywhere 17:54 Callery pear alternatives 18:20 Flowering dogwood 19:17 Serviceberry 19:49 Redbud 21:42 White fringetree 22:30 Hawthorns 23:31 Wild plum and crabapples 26:08 White fringetree and EAB 27:09 The second BAD plant for this week - Burning Bush 30:10 Chris' burning bush conundrum 32:30 First time Chris realized burning bush was a problem 34:09 Alternatives to burning bush 34:30 American hazelnut 36:01 Arrowwood Viburnum 'Chicago Lustre' 36:45 Doublefile viburnum 'Opening Day' (may be invasive in your area) 38:04 Buttonbush 39:17 Mophead hydrangea (arborescens) 40:10 Pannicle hydrangea (paniculate) 40:47 Oakleaf hydrangea (quercifolia) 41:25 Ninebark 42:15 Fothergilla 43:10 Virginia sweetspire 43:53 Highbush blueberry 46:33 Answering a comment on photos from last week 47:51 Farewells and thank yous 48:47 Coming up next week! Management of Invasive Plants and Pests of Illinois: https://extension.illinois.edu/sites/default/files/management_of_invasive_plants_and_pests_of_illinois.pdf Check out the Good Growing Blog: go.illinois.edu/goodgrowing Subscribe to the weekly Good Growing email: go.illinois.edu/goodgrowingsubscribe Any products or companies mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion or endorsement of these products or companies.