Your Yard Wants to be a Forest

Eupatorium at Bull Run

Eupatorium at Bull Run

Eupatorium at Bull Run

Photo by Brigitte Hartke

Photo by Brigitte Hartke

Photo by Brigitte Hartke

Cullers Overlook at Shenandoah State Park - Photo by Richard Stromberg

Cullers Overlook at Shenandoah State Park - Photo by Richard Stromberg

Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains
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Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains

Eupatorium at Bull Run

Eupatorium at Bull Run

Eupatorium at Bull Run

Photo by Brigitte Hartke

Photo by Brigitte Hartke

Photo by Brigitte Hartke

Winterberry at Shenandoah National Park
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Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) at Shenandoah National Park

Eupatorium at Bull Run

Eupatorium at Bull Run

Eupatorium at Bull Run

Photo by Brigitte Hartke

Photo by Brigitte Hartke

Photo by Brigitte Hartke

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News & Updates

🌻 New for 2025: the VNPS Piedmont Chapter will award $5,000 for well-defined projects located in Fauquier County, Virginia, that address the VNPS Mission and Goals. View more information about the grant program. 7-27-2025

• If you are not receiving regular emails from us at VNPS Piedmont, please contact our Vice President Mitzi Fox at fox57va@gmail.com.  We send emails for each monthly Second Saturday Walk and for other events. To search for your emails from us, search "PiedmontVNPS@gmail.com" in all folders including spam. 5-9-2024

• Please join us in preserving Jocelyn Sladen’s legacy and in celebrating her life as a conservationist and a founder of VNPS. Donate now to help us save Torrey’s Mountain Mint. 4-4-2024

• View our newest brochure "Your Yard Wants to be a Forest". And see more information and resources for the brochure. For printed copies, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to VNPS Piedmont Chapter, PO Box 336, The Plains, VA 20198. 4-5-2023

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Great Blue Lobelia, Lobelia siphilitica
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: Virginia Native Plant Society
Short-toothed Mountain-mint, Pycnanthemum muticum
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: Virginia Native Plant Society
American Elderberry, Sambucus canadensis
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: Virginia Native Plant Society
False Indigo-bush, Amorpha fruticosa
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: Virginia Native Plant Society
Wild Strawberry, Fragaria virginiana
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: Virginia Native Plant Society
Wildflower of the Year 2025: Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)
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: Virginia Native Plant Society
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…... Read more
February 5, 2025
Source: Virginia Native Plant Society
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…... Read more
December 26, 2024
Source: Virginia Native Plant Society