You’ve seen and heard the list of no-no plants that were showy longtime nursery and garden standards, but have proven invasive and need to go. Yes, we can yank out the Bradford pears and butterfly bush and the rest of the long list—and should. But then what? We need to know what to plant instead.

A new book called “Plant This, Not That” by Elise Howard establishes some basic principles for selecting and using native plants, along with specific examples of substitutions for plants you may be wanting to replace. She’s here to talk us through some of her suggestions for gardens in various regions around the country.

In “Plant This, Not That,” Elise offers 200-ish examples of substitutions for plants that have proven troublesome or just don’t do much in the name of supporting biodiversity, grouped helpfully by their landscape purpose for hedging, for groundcovers, for foundation plantings near the house, etc.

Elise began learning about natives more than 15 years ago as a volunteer at Riverside Park in New York City. These days, she lives in gardens in the city and in Western Massachusetts.

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