Conserving Wild Flowers and Wild Places
Northern Neck Chapter of The Virginia Native Plant Society
Photo by Nick Ferriter
Conserving Wild Flowers and Wild Places
Photo by Nick Ferriter
Program by NN VNPS Vice President Kevin Howe (and State VNPS Vice President) on fantastic fungi and their floral partners, followed by a field trip to learn about fungi and their partners. Join us for a brown bag lunch at noon before the program and field trip. Location and more details coming.
We enjoyed a wonderful venue, perfect weather and sold more plants and earned more than ever before over the three-day sale! Our Total Gross proceeds for the Sale totaled a stunning $11,223.07. We sold around 1400 beautiful native plants and nearly sold out by the end of Saturday.
We want to thank all of our loyal members, new members and the general public who crowded into our Native Plant Sale. You far exceeded our expectations today with enthusiasm and zeal for native plants. Although we started with nearly 1400 plants (more than ever) we have nearly sold out. We do have a very few plants left. We will be at Good Luck tomorrow at 1pm to sell the few remaining plants and handout Guides and literature.
Not a member? Do we have a deal for you? Come join our Chapter on Friday or any time this weekend and take home a free American Beautyberry shrub for your own garden until they run out!
Plant an Oak for Earth Day... “Oaks are the quintessential wildlife plants: no other genus supports as many species of Lepidoptera thus providing more types of bird food, than the mighty oak... The value of oaks for supporting both vertebrate and invertebrate wildlife cannot be overstated.”
Doug Tallamy, Bringing Nature Home -How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens.”
What can you do to promote Biodiversity on your own property? …
From the April 2024 Newsletter
The 2024 VNPS Plant of the Year is the beautiful White Turtlehead, Chelone glabra. This fall blooming wildflower graces wet areas around the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula. Read more about this beautiful plant at Wildflower of the Year 2024 White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra) -Virginia Native Plant Society (vnps.org).
You can order the new VNPS 2024 White Turtlehead Tee shirts at: https://www.bonfire.com/store/vnps/
The purpose of this scholarship is to recognize an outstanding student graduating from a High School, either public or private in the four Northern Neck Counties: Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond Co., and Westmoreland. The graduating senior must exhibit a desire to continue studies in a recognized College, University or Community College with a focus on the environment, conservation, botany or any discipline that is geared toward bettering our Commonwealth with an emphasis on flora of the Northern Neck.
New Year’s Day is the perfect day, to get outside for a stroll and start the New Year off naturally and focused on our native flora and fauna. A number of years ago the Northern Neck (NN) Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society began a New Year’s Day Walk at Hickory Hollow Natural Area Preserve in Lancaster County.
The October Plant of the Month, Sourwood or Lily-of-the-Valley Tree, is spectacular in every season but especially so each fall as the foliage ignites into brilliant crimson or reddish-purple. Sourwood is one of our earliest, most vivid, and most reliable fall coloring trees, especially in the South.
Sweet or Anise-scented Goldenrod is one of the earliest fall blooming Goldenrods to grace our open areas including open woods, fields, powerline cuts and roadsides each fall.
Common Cut-leaf Coneflower is a tall statuesque late summer-fall bloomer found throughout Virginia and stands above most perennials at heights 5 to 9 feet. Also known as Green-headed, Tall Coneflower, or Wild Golden Glow, it is widely distributed in open floodplain forests, alluvial swamps, seepage swamps, wet meadows, and along streams and rivers and even roadsides.
The July Plant of the Month, Common Milkweed, is a lovely, robust, herbaceous perennial festooned with showy clusters of flowers from June to August. A member of the Milkweed genus, Asclepias, it often gets a bad rap for its rhizomatous roots that can spread aggressively; however, this species offers many attractive benefits.
Southeastern Prickly-pear Cactus, is certainly eye-catching when in bloom in late May and June and curious and just plain cool at any time of year. This native evergreen is technically a “shrub” although it grows only 6 – 12” high.
Every spring I look forward to seeing the lovely lavender-blue spires of Sundial Lupine rising above distinctive pinwheel foliage along sandy roadsides and open woods. Also known as Wild Lupine, this member of the Legume Family is found throughout the Eastern and Central United States.
A few weeks ago, driving north from Florida, we passed mile after mile of waves of lavender-blue flowers gracing the highway shoulders in South Carolina. We were thrilled to see Lyre-leaf Sage, Salvia lyrata, creating a gorgeous spectacle along an otherwise barren straight stretch of road.
One of my favorite sights while walking in winter woodlands are the beautiful evergreen leaves of Downy Rattlesnake Plantain, Goodyera pubescens. This eye-catching beauty is one of our most common woodland orchids and instantly recognizable by its exquisitely etched leaves with an intricate network of fine white veins on either side of a broader white midvein.
The January Plant of the Month, Eastern Red Cedar, Juniperus virginiana, goes by many names such as Eastern Juniper, Red Cedar or even Pencil Juniper. This widespread handsome native tree is found from Nova Scotia and Ontario south to northern Florida and Texas and west across the Great Plains and is extremely cold and heat tolerant.
Slideshow photos and text
by Betsy Washington
Trailing Arbutus is one of our earliest blooming wildflowers and has been considered a “herald of spring” with its extremely fragrant clusters of pink to white flowers blooming from late February to April in our area.