02/23/2026
We can do this here, too.
That “pretty white spring tree” a lot of neighborhoods planted for decades? Missouri just drew a line in the sand.
Missouri’s governor Mike Kehoe signed Senate Bill 105 on July 14, 2025, making it illegal to sell several of the state’s most destructive invasive plants — including the notorious Callery pear (aka Bradford pear).
Why this matters: Callery pear isn’t just a messy ornamental that smells weird and splits in storms. It escapes into woods, roadsides, and pastures, forms dense thorny thickets, and crowds out native plants that wildlife actually needs. It’s one of those “looks harmless in a yard” plants that turns into a real ecological problem once birds spread the seeds.
And Missouri didn’t stop at pears. The bill targets six invasive plants total:
sericea lespedeza
burning bush (‘Compactus’)
Callery pear
Japanese honeysuckle
perilla mint
wintercreeper (Coloratus)
The law’s implementation date is August 28, 2025, with phase-out windows for sellers to clear existing inventory (so it doesn’t flip overnight for every nursery).
I wish more states would do this. Because invasive plants are one of the few environmental problems we can actually prevent at the checkout counter. If we stop selling the worst offenders, we stop planting tomorrow’s invasions on purpose.
If you’re in Missouri (or nearby), this is the perfect moment to swap that Bradford pear for something that gives you spring bloom without the damage.
