Carolina or Yellow Jessamine, Gelsemium sempervirens, is a stunning evergreen vine native to the southern United States and Mexico south to Guatemala. In Virginia, Carolina Jessamine is a coastal beauty, common along the southern and central Coastal Plain north to Lancaster and Northampton Counties but rare in the adjacent outer Piedmont.
Read MoreIn honor of our Pop-up field trip to see the very early blooming Bloodroot just beginning to bloom in member’s Lucy and Frank’s beautiful woodland garden, I thought Bloodroot would be the perfect plant for our March Plant of the Month.
Read MoreOne of the earliest signs of spring is the bloom of the Round-lobed Hepatica or Liverleaf, Hepatica americana. The lovely small flowers of this woodland wildflower look fragile but this hardy perennial blooms in the face of winter often in February. An array of adaptations helps it survive this period of winter-spring.
Read MoreAs we celebrated the New Year with our annual New Year’s Day walk at Hickory Hollow NAP, many participants were intrigued by a small, common terrestrial orchid, the Cranefly Orchid, Tipularia discolor, that greeted us along the paths. Some were even more surprised to realize they had this orchid growing on their own properties! Oddly, this orchid is unique in having dark green leaves that appear in mid fall and remain handsome and dark green through the winter months despite the vagaries of winter weather and then wither away in late spring and early summer when the canopy closes overhead.
Read MoreOur evergreen Wax Myrtle or Southern Bayberry is handsome in every season of the year but it particularly sparkles in the winter after the leaves of deciduous trees have fallen leaving a gray and brown landscape.
Read MoreEverything about the November Plant of the Month is distinctive and picturesque. This small to mid-sized tree typically grows to about 35 - 60’ with crooked artistic branches, broad rounded crown, and pendulous lower branches - similar in structure to a Japanese Bonsai.
Read MoreAt our recent fall plant sale a number of shoppers requested shade tolerant perennials that bloom in shady woodland gardens in late summer and fall, long after spring bloomers have faded. The October Plant of the Month, Blue-stemmed Goldenrod, Solidago caesia, fits the bill beautifully and like other Goldenrods, has the added benefit of supporting a large variety of pollinators and butterflies.
Read MoreLittle Bluestem is one of our finest native grasses and was once one of the dominant grasses of the vast Tallgrass Prairies that covered much of central North America. This beautiful warm-season perennial is one of the most widespread grasses in our area and found in nearly every county in Virginia.
Read MoreBlue Vervain, Verbena hastata is the August Plant of the Month and enhances any landscape in which it grows. It is one of my favorite mid to late summer native perennials for any number of reasons.
Read MoreTurk’s-cap Lily, Lilium superbum, is one of our most spectacular wildflowers in eastern North America. Its stunning flowers bloom right now in July and August. Native to wet meadows and rich moist cove forests and bogs from New Hampshire south to Georgia and Alabama, it is found in most counties in Virginia.
Read MoreOne of my favorite Northern Neck native perennials, Yellow Wild Indigo, Baptisia tinctoria, is coming into bloom right now and its neat, compact habit fits the bill for many requests for low maintenance, small, native plants.
Read MoreJack-in-the-Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum, is one of our most intriguing and curious woodland wildflowers and is blooming now.
Read MoreThe April Plant of the Month, Pawpaw, Asimina triloba, is a handsome small tree that is as fascinating as it is curious. Pawpaw is a member of the Custard-Apple Family, the Annonaceae, a large family of tropical and subtropical species.
Read MoreTrout Lily is one of our earliest woodland wildflowers to bloom each spring with exquisite nodding yellow flowers with back-swept petals. The entire plant is only 4 -6” high with smooth lance to oblong gray-green leaves exquisitely mottled with purplish brown, supposedly resembling dappled coloring of a Brook Trout.
Read MorePartridge-berry is a handsome evergreen vine that creeps along the ground reaching only 2” high. Its long trailing stems can reach 12” long but it develops roots at nodes along the stem wherever it touches the ground, creating large dense colonies.
Read MoreOur deciduous woods are graced by many native ferns, but in winter the evergreen Christmas Fern, Polystichum acrostichoides, takes center stage. It literally lights up the woods with its rich green, lustrous foliage that catches the low-angled winter sun, adding sparkle and color. Christmas Ferns are one of the most common ferns in the Southeast and occur in every county in Virginia.
Read MoreThe December Plant of the Month, American Mistletoe, goes by several common names - American, Eastern, Oak, False, or Hairy Mistletoe. This evergreen shrub grows high in the branches of deciduous trees where it is most visible in winter after the leaves fall. While not a plant you would “plant” in your garden, it has a fascinating history centered around the holidays and winter solstice.
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Baldcypress, Taxodium distichum, our November Plant of the Month, is an unforgettable sight all year but in late fall when its soft foliage turns vibrant shades of copper-orange, it lights up the entire landscape.
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