Non-native woody plants pose significant threats to biodiversity, and thus ecosystem goods and services. Many non-natives exhibit suites of traits such as higher productivity, which ties closely to tissue composition and above- and below-ground resource use. A major driver of plant productivity and a strategy of many successful non-natives is extended leaf phenology. Here, we explore both above- and belowground morphological and physiological traits that potentially enable early and late seasonal leaf productivity. In the first study, we relate belowground seasonal fine root production, biomass, and physiological function through nitrogen (N) uptake to aboveground leaf phenology of two congeneric pairs of native and invasive vines (Lonicera) and shrubs (Rhamnus). The second study explores the capacity of nonnative plants to more efficiently conduct water transport through differences in wood anatomical traits and arrangement of those traits.