I tried various flowers in this particular spot, but because the location is all southern exposure, if I forgot to water, the sun would mercilessly burn up everything I put in the ground. So I considered some sort of low-maintenance heat tolerant shrubbery. But I also wanted something that would attract birds and butterflies because I'm a nature lover.

I thought I'd found the perfect solution when I bought a couple of butterfly bushes—the botanical name is Buddleja davidii. But it turns out that was a big mistake. It's called a butterfly brush because its bright yellow flowers are a magnet for attracting butterflies. But these flying wonders also lay eggs and the next thing I knew the brush was covered with caterpillars, way too many for my liking. These bushes quickly fell off my favorite choice list and eventually I pulled them out and ended up covering the area with sod, after giving up on finding anything that could survive the heat.

Now, many years later I've discovered that I should have never bought those butterfly bushes in the first place. Not because it turns into a caterpillar haven but because it is considered an invasive plant in our country.

Unfortunately, unless you specifically ask the local nursery if the plant you are buying is indigenous to the area, you will never know. Today there are some 300 "rogue" plants in the United States and about 50 percent of them were deliberately introduced as ornamental garden plants, according to the Federal Interagency Committee for the Management of Noxious and Exotic Weeds.

What we consider beautiful landscape specimens, this organization categorizes as weeds. And it does so because once these plants spread they put a chokehold on native vegetation caught in their path. But to be fair, not every one of these plants will wreak havoc in your yard or the environment. In fact, the ratio is about one in 10, according to Kayri Haven, a conservation-science director at the Chicago Botanic Garden. But it only takes one stray seedling to start changing the ecosystem in our communities.

Although I no longer have ornamental invaders in my yard, I see evidence of this potential problem daily. For me, the number-one culprit is not the plantings but the birds and wind. Not much I can do about either, but examples of their impact are plentiful. I have two figs, which are "volunteers"—vegetation that springs up from seeds blow in by the elements or dropped by wildlife—and I have privet seedlings growing everywhere, because of a huge tree in my backyard that I never planted. These privet trees are especially messy and annoying with their dark blue berries. This tree is also extremely prolific. I am forever pulling out small starter plants to no avail. And these seeds continually sprout up in my flowerbeds and landscaped hedges.

I also discovered the hard way that ornamental plants and volunteers are not the only problem; it's also important to know what the word "aggressive" means in the gardening world. Actually, its definition is simple: pushy and overbearing—just like some people.

I can warn you first-hand, never buy a mint plant and put it in the ground. All mint should come with a simple written warning: Only plant in pots. That is unless you desire a field of mint for the rest of your life. Peppermint now grows happily and hopelessly uncontained throughout the rock garden in my front yard. And I even occasionally have to pull it out of the lawn.

The lesson here is really quite simple. No matter how beautiful a garden we want, it's a good idea to educate ourselves about what we are putting in it. And to do it in a way that still brings a burst of wildlife into our yard without damaging our already fragile ecosystem.

Moryt Milo is the editor of The Willow Glen Resident. She can be contacted at 400.200.1051 or mmilo@svcn.com.