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Changes in historical disturbance regimes have been shown to facilitate non‐native plant invasions, but reinstatement of disturbance can be successful only if native colonizers are able to outcompete colonizing invasives. Reintroduction of flooding in the southwestern United States is being promoted as a means of reestablishing Populus deltoides subsp. wislizenii, but flooding can also promote establishment of an introduced, invasive species, Tamarix ramosissima. We investigated competition between Populus and Tamarix at the seedling stage to aid in characterizing the process by which Tamarix may invade and to determine the potential ability of Populus to establish itself with competitive pressure from Tamarix. We planted seedlings of Tamarix and Populus in five ratios at three densities for a total of 15 treatments. The growth response of each species was measured in terms of height, above‐ground biomass …