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Virginia Bluebell, Virginia cowslip (Mertensia virginica) by Helen Hamilton,  John Clayton Chapter Virginia Bluebell is a beautiful spring wildflower that produces funnel-form pendant flowers beginning as pink but then turn blue as the flowers open. They are pollinated by bees that are large enough to push their way up the tube, and more commonly by butterflies…

  The John Clayton Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society is a nonprofit committed to educating the public about the value of native plants. Our big event of the year, the plant sale, is an ongoing effort. Beginning the year before the sale, we dig, purchase, propagate, and nurture a large number and variety…

Soon spring will come with flowering fruit trees—serviceberry, pears, apples, cherries—all members of the Rose family, so the flowers look quite similar, with 5 white or pink petals and many stamens in the center. First to bloom is serviceberry, a somewhat crooked small tree or shrub with slender flower petals. When flowering begins, the leaves…

This year’s theme is Native Plants for Butterflies and other Pollinators. Our native insects need your help. Please put Saturday, April 20 on your calendar and make some room in your garden for plants that support them.   Doors will open at 9:45 am. Thank you!!

A bright spot in the woods and meadows in winter is this little lichen with the red caps, named for the red uniforms of the British soldiers during the Revolutionary War. The surrounding material is gray-green, a color characteristic of lichens, reflecting their dual lifestyle. A green alga Trebouxia erici supplies nourishment by its photosynthesis…

POISON IVY (Toxicodendron radicans) “Leaflets 3, let it be!” Few plants carry 3-parted compound leaves, and this is an easy way to recognize a very irritating plant. Some bean vines have 3-parted leaves, but poison ivy is woody, and attaches with aerial roots. Not related to invasive English ivy, poison ivy can grow as an…

Wildflower of the Month – December 2018 John Clayton Chapter, Virginia Native Plant Society by Helen Hamilton SOUTHERN MAGNOLIA Magnolia grandiflora Southern Magnolia is a magnificent tree of the South, densely covered with leathery, dark green, evergreen leaves. They are shiny on top and velvety brown underneath, much used in December for holiday decorations. Very…

Wildflower of the Month – November 2018 By Helen Hamilton COMMON HACKBERRY (Celtis occidentalis)  Distinctive warty, cork-like ridges cover the smooth gray to light brown bark of Hackberry. The form is that of a shrub, with several woody stems growing from the base; the crown is rounded, and the branches spread and droop slightly. The…

  Janis Stone (Prince William Wildflower Society chapter) I became fascinated by bryophytes (liverworts, mosses and hornworts) several years ago, so when the VNPS conference offered a field trip on Ferns and Mosses at Freedom Park, I jumped at the chance.  I had already met two of the attendees online (as members of the Facebook…

Doug DeBerry’s walk in New Quarter Park for the Annual Meeting was an outstanding learning experience, great fun, and very productive. For several hours we were asked to look closely and try to identify most every fern, forb, grass, shrub, or tree we saw in an effort to create a list of species –ours totaled…