Japanese maples come up in gardens here but seldom in the woods, as our summers are dry. Any kind of tree with orange or red fall color may be yellow in full shade. Silver maples here often have a mix of colors that can be quite nice, streaks or sections of purple, red, maybe orange and yellow. Green Norway maples growing in the open here often have quite a bit of orange and red on the outside; there is a grafted cultivar seen in plantings here that is consistently all yellow in fall. A larger solitary Norway maple in a northwest WA community actually blazes in fall. A friend who grew up in Illinois said there was a Norway maple and a sugar maple nearby, these behaved as though trading off which one was conspicuous in a given fall. Recently volunteers have started clearing Norway maple saplings out of a wooded ravine in a Seattle park. The numbers of these that were becoming established was positively frightening. Elsewhere here it is not usual in my experience to see such intense infestation - so far. I do know of a drier evergreen forest park site north of Seattle where too many have been coming up, but nothing like in the one moister, probably more fertile location. During one segment in a fictional cop TV show I've watched the detectives go out to a local wooded site to look at a crime scene. It was during a time when the trees where not in leaf, as far as I could see just about every tree, small and larger was a Norway maple.

I bought that book but felt it didn't offer enough suggestions. (Good as far as it went.) I agree that visiting the Bot. Garden in CH, the Bloomquist native section at Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, the native garden (forgot the name) in Asheville...not the big Arboretum but the smaller one closer to town. In SC I did go once to the gardens at Clemson but was disappointed...maybe they have added more natives now since Patrick McMillian is there, and he is a big proponent of natives. He would be one to check if you have questions for your area...very nice young man with incredible knowledge. Also, if you don't travel much, NC State has great photos with cultural requirements for a lot of wildflowers and native shrubs. I imagine Clemson does, too, but I don't usually "cruise" that site since I no longer live around there. Oh, I bought a Shumard oak years ago, and it is too big now. Nothing will grow under it, not even weeds! Oh, well. My cat likes the empty dusty dirt to roll in and dust himself. I wanted to mulch it, but my husband said I could not take away my cat's pleasure-place.

Terrene - A bit off topic, but if you can find a local woodturning group, you could try contacting them to see if anyone is interested in your 3 foot diameter Acer platanoides. Norway maple is a nice wood, so you'll be getting rid of an invasive species and having it turned into something beautiful. I'm an amateur turner and have lots of buckthorn. In rooting it out I noticed the pretty orange color just under the bark and decided to try turning it. I've used it for Christmas ornaments which are small enough to use the small diameter wood I have. Makes me feel like all the time I spend removing buckthorn isn't such a total waste since some of it I can use. In addition to the buckthorn (lots and lots and lots!) I have some bittersweet, a couple of kinds of honeysuckle (vine and shrub), pruple loosestrife along the river, and some barberry. I have enough property that I'll never get rid of it all, but on an ongoing basis I work to reduce what invasives are there by pulling, cutting, and judicious use of Roundup. I'm pretty careful what I plant since I'm in a rural area and invasives can really spread into the woods. For instance, I've been waiting to see about Heptacodium. It seems like a great plant, but it's a relatively newly marketed one, and although I've heard nothing about it seeding around, I decided I'd wait to be sure that it wouldn't develop that problem. An example is that only now are the pears (like the Bradford and Cleveland) being seen as invasive in the southeast, long after they have been planted in every other subdivision. Perhaps I'm being overly cautious, but I see what problems are created when plants attract animals that help them seed themselves around, and so I really try to avoid the problem. I get information on invasives here on GW as well as other internet sources and books. I also look around at old fields and other sites where invasives often move in and make sure that I can ID most of the plants there as a way to familiarize myself with pioneer species, some of which are fine or native, but others are foreign invasives. I usually consult several sources before I get a plant I'm not familiar with, and if it either runs through underground roots or is a prolific seeder, I don't buy it. It's way too much trouble to remove a plant I end up regretting (the voice of bitter experience) than to avoid it in the first place, no matter how attractive it may seem.

Jack, I can understand why an anonymous note would make you uncomfortable, and I can also understand why you don't want to name the plant because it's irrelevant to the discussion. However, if it is on your state's noxious list, should you as a responsible citizen continue to offer it for sale? If it is not on the list then there's no issue. Here's what I would do. Print out the "Severe Threat" list for your state from the Invasives.org website Vaccinium provided, post it in a prominent location and post below it your "Company Policy" that your customers will never find one of these plants for sale at your nursery. How many of your customers have actually ever seen that list? And, how many confuse "invasive" with "aggressive spreaders or seeders"? You'll be educating them. If a customer questions the invasiveness of a plant you sell, you can show them the list and explain the difference. I have never seen and never expect to see Japanese Honeysuckle, Kudzu, Tree of Heaven, Mimosa, Common Privet, or Chinese Privet for sale at any nursery in the South. However, I have purchased Variegated Porcelain Berry and have it growing on an arbor. That plant is not on my state's invasive list, but is on "Watch List B, plants that are severe problems in surrounding states, but have not been reported in Tennessee". I'll watch it. Interestingly enough on "Watch List A: Exotic plants that naturalize and may become a problem in the future", among others are listed Buddleia, Cosmos, Rose of Sharon, Spearmint, Peppermint, and Grape Hyacinth. All of these are commonly found in every nursery and most gardens. Where do you draw the line? Do you refuse to sell any plant that is listed on not only the Severe Threat List, but also the lower threat lists the watch lists? That's your decision and your conscience.