News & Updates
- Read the complete slide deck for Jim McGlone's presentation "Pollinator Habitat for the Birds." View a portion of the presentation at our Vimeo channel.
- 2026 Annual Native Plant Sale - works starts now! Join us for potting up plants, bring plants to donate or just learn about plants native to our area. Oct. 19, Nov. 2, Nov. 9, 1-3 pm at a private home. Contact Janet Lundin for more info.
- Wildflower of the Year 2025 – Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum). Read more about it here. Purchase a shirt with the winning design, celebrating the mayapple.
- Nature Camp Scholarships - deadline for the 2026 season is October 31. Learn more at the link.
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By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society One of the earliest and most reliable trees for fall color is our gorgeous Black Gum, Nyssa sylvatica. This native deciduous tree reliably ignites into fiery shades of scarlet and occasionally red, orange, even purple in the fall, often by late September. Not only does it color…...
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October 25, 2025
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society Great Blue Lobelia is a lovely late-blooming perennial in the Bellflower family that flaunts tall blue spires of flowers for weeks on end in the late summer-fall. Also called Blue Cardinal Flower or just Great Lobelia, this relative of the well-known red Cardinal Flower is native to…...
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August 15, 2025
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society One of my all-time favorite pollinator plants, Short-toothed Mountain-mint, has just recently been added to the flora of the Northern Neck and I am thrilled to include it as the July Plant of the Month. Several large populations of this incredible pollinator powerhouse were recently discovered near…...
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July 11, 2025
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society American Elderberry is a common, deciduous shrub that lights up our landscape from mid-May through June with huge and profuse clusters of white flowers that literally form a lacy veil over the shrub. Each flower is only about ¼” across but is held in large, flat-topped or…...
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June 13, 2025
By Betsy Washington Northern Neck Chapter, Virginia Native Plant Society As signs of spring fill the air, I find myself eagerly anticipating the vibrant magenta pink blooms of one of our most beautiful flowering trees, the Eastern Redbud, Cercis canadensis. This small tree is a common sight along roadsides, woodland edges, and old fields…...
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March 18, 2021
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Chapter The Common Hackberry is one of our most adaptable native shade trees and is also among the best trees to plant for wildlife. The trunk of hackberries has smooth…...
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February 21, 2021
By Betsy Washington Northern Neck Chapter, VNPS American Beeches are one of our most magnificent native trees, beautiful in every season, especially winter. They are also one of the most easily recognized of our eastern deciduous trees, with their silvery gray bark that appears cast…...
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February 21, 2021
By Betsy Washington Northern Neck Chapter, Virginia Native Plant Society As the winter solstice approaches, I am already anticipating the blooms of our earliest spring wildflower, Skunk Cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus. The buds of this winter blooming wildflower begin to appear in our…...
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December 30, 2020