Wildflower of the Year 2025: Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)
VNPS offers Mayapple artwork on T-Shirts and other apparel. Visit our Online Store to order. Mayapples are perennial herbaceous plants with thick fibrous roots that arise from a creeping rhizome. Each year the rhizome elongates about 6 to 20 cm in length, terminating in a bud for the subsequent year’s leafy stem and one or…
Red Maple, Acer rubrum
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society Red Maples, also called Swamp or Scarlet Maples, are known for their brilliant fall color. Now they may seem to be a surprising choice for the February Plant of the Month, but they are a true harbinger of spring, blooming in late winter often as early as…
Inkberry, Ilex glabra
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society Inkberry or Gallberry is a great choice for the December Plant of the Month. This handsome broadleaf evergreen shrub typically grows slowly to about 5 – 8’ high and wide and has plenty of winter interest with its small narrowly ovate to lance-like dark green leaves that…
Winged Sumac, Rhus copallinum
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society Winged Sumac is a beautiful large deciduous shrub that shines throughout the year but is especially vibrant when it ignites into a fiery crescendo in fall. Typically growing from 7 – 15’ tall, this sumac often spreads into large colonies by root suckers. As fall turns into…
Sweet Goldenrod, Solidago odora
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society 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. Its golden plumes light up much of the Eastern United States from New Hampshire south to Texas on dry, often…
Common Cut-leaf Coneflower, Rudbeckia laciniata
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society 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…
Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society 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…
Southeastern Prickly-pear Cactus, Opuntia mesacantha
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society 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. It is indeed a member of the…
Sundial Lupine, Lupinus perennis
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society 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. In Virginia…
Lyre-leaf Sage, Salvia lyrata
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society 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. Later…