Hackberry, privet and honey locust removal in North Texas is mostly an understory and fence-row job, and only one of the three is a true invasive. Chinese privet is a non-native that Texas A&M Forest Service says can outcompete native plants. Hackberry and honey locust are native but aggressive. Local tree codes treat each one differently, so check the town first.
This guide from Homestead Land Clearing describes the brush that most often crowds out pasture, creek edges and wooded lots around Frisco, how the area’s tree rules treat each species, and what a clearing plan for it looks like.
Invasive or just aggressive?
“Invasive” has a specific meaning: a non-native species that spreads and displaces native plants. Most of the brush that frustrates landowners around Frisco does not fit that definition. It is native growth that got ahead of the mowing. The distinction matters because tree ordinances, wildlife value and follow-up plans differ.
| Plant | Native? | Where it shows up | What makes it a problem |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese privet | No (introduced as an ornamental) | Creek bottoms, fence rows, forest understory | Dense evergreen thickets that shade out native growth |
| Hackberry (sugarberry) | Yes | Fence lines, drainages, lot edges | Seedlings spread by birds; fast volunteer trees |
| Honey locust | Yes | Creek bottoms, riparian areas, old pasture | Thorny trunks and branches; dense thickets |
| Bois d’arc (osage orange) | Yes | Old fence rows, Cross Timbers woodland | Thorny; common in old fence rows |
| Greenbriar | Yes | Understory, fences, thickets | Thorny vine that binds brush together |
Chinese privet
Texas A&M Forest Service lists Chinese, glossy and Japanese privets among the invasive plants of North Texas. The agency says they were brought to the United States by the mid-1800s as ornamentals and can outcompete native vegetation, changing a forest’s understory if left uncontrolled. The Texas Invasive Species Institute describes Chinese privet forming dense thickets, particularly in bottomland forests and along fencerows, and notes that it tolerates shade and that its seeds are spread by animals.
Locally, the City of Denton runs a Chinese Privet Removal Initiative, describing thickets invading fields, fencerows, roadsides, forest understories and riparian sites, and Dallas County lists Chinese, Japanese and glossy privet as prevalent in North Texas. That is useful context: privet is a recognized regional problem, not a single property’s bad luck.
Because privet sits under taller trees, clearing it is usually selective clearing: remove the thicket, keep the oaks, elms and pecans. Forestry mulching is a common method for privet understory because it leaves the material on site, although it leaves root systems in the ground. A dependable Texas agency source on how privet regrows after cutting was not found for this guide, so plan to watch the area after clearing rather than assume either outcome.
Hackberry
Texas A&M’s range plant database lists sugar hackberry as native to Texas, growing in draws and low areas with adequate moisture, with fair value for wildlife, mainly birds. Extension and native plant sources tie hackberry’s spread to birds that eat the fruit and pass the seed, which is one reason seedlings so often line up under fences. On lots that sat for a few years, hackberry is often the dominant volunteer tree.
Honey locust
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s Brush Busters guidance describes honey locust as a frequent invader of East and Central Texas creek bottoms and riparian areas, with densely thorny trunks and branches and clusters of thorns on older trees. AgriLife also says controlling it is not a one-time job, because livestock and wildlife spread the seed, and recommends monitoring land regularly for seedlings.
That makes honey locust a pasture and creek-bottom problem more than a backyard one. Clearing it from creek areas runs into floodplain rules; see clearing near creeks and floodplain.
Bois d’arc and greenbriar
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department describes the East Cross Timbers, which runs through parts of Denton County, as post oak and blackjack oak woodland where eastern red cedar, mesquite, osage orange (bois d’arc) and greenbriar are also common. Bois d’arc lines many old fence rows. Greenbriar binds brush piles and fences together and makes hand work slow. Where poison ivy is mixed into vine thickets, do not burn it: CDC NIOSH warns that smoke from burning poison ivy causes lung irritation. Old fence rows are the subject of fence line clearing.
How local tree codes treat these species
This is where the species question has real consequences. The same tree can be unregulated in one town and protected in the next.
| Jurisdiction | How it treats these species |
|---|---|
| Prosper | Excludes hackberry or Texas sugarberry, honey locust, bois d’arc, mesquite, cottonwood and others from protection outside the 100-year floodplain; inside the floodplain any species 6 in. or larger is protected |
| Celina | Common hackberry, bois d’arc, cottonwood, junipers, cedars, mesquites and willows are Type 3: 10% value, 1:1 replacement; floodplain trees of any species are Type 1 at 5:1 |
| Lucas | Lists bois d’arc (osage orange), sugar hackberry and eastern red cedar among protected large trees; property zoned agricultural and actively farmed is exempt |
| Cross Roads | Excludes thorny honey locust, hackberry, mesquite, eastern red cedar and others from protection |
| Frisco | Excluded species list sits in the Development Application Handbook and was not reviewed here; any tree of 4 in. or more in the riparian buffer is protected regardless of species |
Two patterns stand out. Prosper and Lucas treat bois d’arc and hackberry in opposite ways. And floodplain or creek rules override species exclusions in several towns, so a hackberry thicket on a creek bank may be regulated even where the same tree in a fence row is not. The Frisco tree removal permit guide covers Frisco’s process.
Planning the clearing
Clearing this kind of brush follows the same approved process: walk the property for boundaries, trees to keep, slopes, wet spots, fences and anything buried or overhead; check the rules for that address; write the scope with method, finish level, stumps, debris plan and erosion control before a price; then clear to the agreed finish.
For this brush in particular, a scope should say:
- Which trees stay. Flag keepers before work; privet and hackberry often hide good oaks and pecans.
- Method by area. Mulching for understory, brush clearing for open thickets, grubbing only where structures will go.
- Stump height. Low enough to mow, if the land will be maintained.
- Follow-up. Regrowth is common for several of these species. Herbicide work is a separate decision; your county AgriLife Extension office can explain options. See does brush grow back after clearing.
To plan selective work on your land, contact Homestead Land Clearing.