They will sell what you buy.īut in the meantime, it’s up to each consumer to educate themselves. Plants are replaced based upon consumer purchases. Growers may propagate plants as many as three years in advance, based on corporate office-approved product lists. So why do garden centers sell plants that are invasive? Most nurseries and big box stores have contracts with growers to provide plants for the shelves in retail stores. Genetic evidence shows that many sweet broom and French broom plants share some of the same genes, indicating that sweet broom may have hybridized into wild, invasive populations. Unfortunately, research conducted by UC Davis indicates that sweet broom is a member of the same genus, Genista, as French broom.

At least one county in California is now considering an ordinance barring all ornamental broom plant sales from the county.Ĭurrently, a pretty, little, yellow-flowered “sterile” broom known as “Sweet Broom” is available from nurseries and garden centers in Tuolumne County.

They also outgrow native vegetation and push their way into forested areas. 53% of California’s most invasive plants are from the ornamental industry.”īrooms-French, Spanish, and Scotch-are notorious for developing solid stands of growth that contribute to high wildfire risk. In fact, according to Scott Oneto, Farm Advisor and UC Cooperative Extension Director for Tuolumne, El Dorado, Calaveras and Amador Counties, “85% of invasive woody plants in the US were introduced through ornamental trade. “French Broom,” Genista monspessulana, was sold as a beautiful, yellow-flowered landscape shrub before it became a noxious weed in California.

Ornamental broom plant