Lubbock, TX Invasive Plant Rules: Prohibited Species (2026)

The landscaping standards apply citywide under UDC Sec. 002 to new residential, nonresidential, and mixed-use development, plus any expansion that adds 25 percent or more to a site's apartment units, gross floor area, or impervious surface within a five-year period. Sec. 4 governs which plants a developer may count toward that requirement: only "approved" plant materials count, and the Director of Planning may add a species to the approved list only if it provides habitat for native wildlife, is native to the region or not invasive, and is not on the Texas State Noxious Weed List or the city's Prohibited Plant List.

Plants that are not formally listed as prohibited are still allowed on a site but do not earn landscaping credit. The Division's stated purpose, Sec. c, ties this screening to protecting the ecological function of the city's natural resources alongside water conservation, which is why the same section separately encourages xeriscape plant materials from the UDC's Approved Plant List. Property owners, HOAs, or PIDs responsible for a site must also maintain landscaping so it stays free of weeds under Sec. e. Outside the development-review context, Lubbock addresses invasive species again in its limited-use standards for community gardens: Sec.

E states plainly that "the planting and/or growing of illegal or invasive plant species, is prohibited," a flat ban with no approved-list exception, layered on top of the garden's separate nuisance-free maintenance requirement in subsection D.