Burning bush — a widely planted landscape shrub popular for its fire-engine-red fall foliage — has been deemed invasive by the state Department of Agriculture and will be phased out of sale in Pennsylvania.

The Ag Department’s Controlled Plant and Noxious Weed Committee voted to add burning bush as well as four species of privets to the state’s Controlled Plant and Noxious Weeds list as of Jan. 10, meaning those plants will be banned for sale in Pennsylvania garden centers and nurseries.

As with two other popular landscape plants that recently landed on the noxious-weeds list (Japanese barberry and flowering pear trees), the bans on burning bush and privets will be phased in.

“The grace period for these plants will be announced in January, along with procedures for retailers and recommended native alternatives for homeowners wishing to replace their shrubs,” said Ag Department press secretary Shannon Powers. “Homeowners will not be asked to remove bushes, but to consider replacing them and control the spread of existing shrubs.”

The newest bans continue a state crackdown on invasive plants that began in late 2021 and early 2022 when Japanese barberries, flowering (callery) pears, ravenna grass, Japanese stiltgrass, garlic mustard, and common and glossy buckthorns were added to the noxious-weed list.

Powers said that Japanese barberries will be banned from sale as of Oct. 8, 2023, and flowering pears will be banned as of Feb. 10, 2024. Glossy buckthorn’s grace period ends in February 2023. (The others aren’t widely available in garden centers or aren’t sold at all.)

Although plants can be sold until the above cutoff dates, Powers added that “we would highly discourage homeowners and landscapers from purchasing them and instead encourage them to plant native, non-invasive alternatives.”

Four varieties of barberries have been exempted from the ban because they’ve been proven to be sterile (i.e. they don’t produce viable seeds that make plants invasive). Those four can be sold in Pennsylvania and are all members of the WorryFree series developed at the University of Connecticut – Crimson Cutie, Lemon Cutie, Lemon Glow, and Mr. Green Genes.

Earlier this year, three more plants were added to the noxious-weeds list – chocolate vine (Akebia), lesser celandine, and wild chervil.

The Controlled Plant and Noxious Weed Committee plans to consider starry stonewort and five species of non-native honeysuckles to the noxious-weeds list at its next meeting in January.

State Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding testified at a legislative hearing last year that invasive bugs, diseases, and plants together cause an estimated $120 billion in damages and losses per year throughout the U.S.

“Invasive plants out-compete our native plants and trees for nutrients and sunlight, resulting in dramatic changes to the composition and structure of our forests and natural areas,” Redding said. “What Penn’s Woods looks like a generation or two from now may be completely unrecognizable compared to today. After habitat loss, invasive species are the second greatest contributor to loss of biodiversity and species extinctions.”

The burning bush (Euonymus alatus) has been a staple of Pennsylvania landscapes for decades for its durability, shearability, and dense growth habit but especially for its bright red foliage in fall before the leaves drop.

However, the plant produces small red berries that birds eat and spread into unwanted areas, where the plant then often out-competes most everything else.