Wildflower of the Year 2020 Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)

Wild Geranium is a woodland perennial herb. Plants emerge from stout, shallow, rhizomes bearing knobby leaf scars and thin roots. Aerial stems attain heights of 2 to 7 dm; stem hairiness ranges from a few scattered trichomes to densely pubescent. Leaves are crowded basally, but well separated and opposite on flowering stems. Overall leaf shape…

Read More

Imperiled Plants and Missing Pieces

Plants that on are imperiled lists today may become missing pieces tomorrow unless action is taken. Do we know which ones are imperiled? Will it make a difference if rare plants disappear? The Virginia Native Plant Society thinks it does, and has taken steps to help conserve some of the wildflowers in our state that…

Read More

Spring Ephemerals: Catch ’em While You Can

April is perhaps the very best month in Virginia to catch a sight of these extraordinary flowers that grace the landscape for such a brief time. To be ephemeral is to be short-lived, fleeting, brief. Bluebells, merrybells, Dutchman’s breeches, squirrel corn, trilliums, lady slipper orchids, bloodroot, hepatica, trout lily, twinleaf and toothwort; even their names…

Read More