Fire Pink
Heading layer

Native Plants for Northern Virginia: Free Download or Purchase a Printed Copy

Fire Pink (Silene virginica), the New River Chapter Flower

Photo by Eric Hunt license CC BY-SA 4.0

News & Updates

  • VNPS New River Chapter September Meeting  Details to be announced.
  • If you would like to volunteer to work in local pollinator gardens or to help to control invasive plants, see our new updated list of opportunities.
  • The February 2025 newsletter is now available.
  • See Upcoming Events for more info about our programs.
  • Scroll down for additional news and updates...
  • A Guide to Gardening with Southwest Virginia Native Plants is now live and ready to support your planting efforts.  Download here.  Free hard copies will be available at New River Chapter VNPS meetings.  The Guide is also available for free throughout SWVA at many libraries, state parks and more.  Click here for list.  If you live outside of SWVA or it's inconvenient for you to pick up, you can purchase online from VNPS to have it shipped directly to you for $9.
  • Plant SWVA Natives has a new email address.  Reach out or subscribe at their webpage.
  • Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas book is available again at our meetings and online.  Go to the Donate page to order online.
  • Chapter meetings since 2020 can be viewed on our YouTube Channel.  Samples include:
    The Flora of Virginia mobile app overview (January 2021), and
    Biology and management of invasive aquatic plants in the New River basin (November 2022)
VNPS-NR Chapter Logo

Join

Become a Member:
Support Our Mission.

Donate

Support VNPS with
your donation today.

Upcoming Events

Find Field Trips, Meetings, Programs and Plant Sales.

Find a Chapter

Get involved in your
local VNPS chapter.

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…... Read more
August 15, 2025
Source: VNPS Blog
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…... Read more
July 11, 2025
Source: VNPS Blog
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…... Read more
June 13, 2025
Source: VNPS Blog
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society As May comes into bloom, I always look forward to the flowers on my False Indigo-bush that graces my upper shoreline. I inherited this lovely deciduous shrub when I bought this property and count myself lucky to have this amazing shrub that is beautiful yet tolerates dry,…... Read more
May 15, 2025
Source: VNPS Blog
By Betsy Washington, Northern Neck Native Plant Society Did you know we have a wonderful native Wild Strawberry, also known as Scarlet or Virginia Strawberry? It is an adaptable low, herbaceous perennial that spreads by runners to form handsome, ground-covering semi-evergreen colonies. This diminutive strawberry rarely grows above 6” high but can spread indefinitely as…... Read more
April 18, 2025
Source: VNPS Blog
Coming soon: VNPS offers Mayapple artwork on T-Shirts and other apparel. 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 more buds for continuation…... Read more
February 8, 2025
Source: VNPS Blog
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…... Read more
February 5, 2025
Source: VNPS Blog
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…... Read more
December 26, 2024
Source: VNPS Blog