Good Bones' Karen E. Laine Warns Against Your Garden's Worst Nightmare

Everyone who watches Karen E. Laine on HGTV's "Good Bones" knows that she's all about finding the good foundation beneath a mess. A garden's worst nightmare often can be overgrown invasive plants that have elbowed out pretty flowers and natives. To avoid this bad dream, she warns against planting aggressive growers in the first place.

In an HGTV special "Good Bones: Better Yard," the former attorney helps a couple whose Indianapolis forever home turned out to be more than they bargained for, with a giant, double-lot yard that had fallen into disrepair. "A huge yard but not functional for them," Laine told House Digest in an exclusive interview. This was largely due to invasive ground cover run amok.

What makes a plant invasive? You know, other than being a general pain in the backside. Well, they tend to be fast-growing, adaptable plants, and not native to where they're growing. Because they don't have natural limits from their original habitat to contain them, they basically go hog wild and out-compete many of the native species for water, light, and nutrients. In short, they are plants you should stay away from using in the garden. Though Laine admits that with older homes, invasive plants could've accidentally been planted decades ago when owners likely didn't know they'd "get out of control." New owners now often find the unwanted greenery has taken over the entire yard. "Some of these are really tough to get rid of," she admits.

While there's no going back in time, you can save yourself future problems by being careful about what you plant in the yard. Do your best to pick flowers native to America, and to your region in particular. Not all non-natives are invasive, but you'll still want to give preference to your natural habitat. To do this, you'll have to do a little bit of research before taking a pretty plant home from the nursery. Double-check that it's not on a banned list of invasive plants for your state. 

If you do see a known invasive pop up in your yard, the best thing to do is pluck it up as early as you can. Try not to let it get a foothold, like Laine's homeowners in "Good Bones: Better Yard." And if you do inherit an invasive plant problem from previous owners, never fear. While you might not have access to the excavator Laine used in her TV show to remove pervasive and aggressive plants, you can still make bold moves. 

Manually ripping out non-native plants is a tedious task, but the fastest way to get rid of a patch without using herbicides. Then you'll need to replace them quickly before they bounce back or weeds take over. One way to do this for some areas is with sod. It might mean more mowing, but you might be happy to do it if the strategy really improves your curbside appeal. Alternatively, you could choose a ground cover best suited for your soil type to replace the old one.