Horticulture as Conservation with Jacob Varney
Date/Time
Thursday, April 6, 2023
6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Location
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
Categories
One of the more encouraging aspects of the growing interest in gardening with native plants–indeed a driving force behind it–is the practice of gardening. More people are recognizing the value of creating habitat to help preserve biodiversity of animals, particularly when it comes to butterflies, birds, and bees.
However, too many people fail to see that this is also a golden opportunity to help preserve the diversity of plant species or even to think of plants at all when considering biodiversity. There are also wildly differing views on how to best approach species preservation. Many prefer a hands-off approach to rare plant species, reasoning that the possibility of exploitation prevents responsible propagation and sharing of said plants, even though the #1 threat to almost all species is habitat loss. Many others ignore the threat to native genomes by planting cultivars and sister species of native plants, or the threat to native ecosystems posed by planting non-natives or trying to conform to HOA codes. Some actively engage in shaming those who differ from their views.
In this talk, we will look at a number of ways to think flexibly to enhance and increase biodiversity across the board, using individual plant species to illustrate some of the ways to reach maximal species and habitat preservation.
Jacob Varney is a lifelong nature nut and has been growing and studying the plants of Virginia for over 30 years. He is a co-founder and an owning partner of RVA Homegrown Natives, an RVA-based native plant nursery specializing in RVA native species under the mantra “We grow the stuff nobody else does.”
He has worked in the field for many years, including volunteering at Lewis Ginter, 3 years at Great Big Greenhouse & Nursery and Meadows Farms, and more than a decade at Sneed’s Nursery while founding RVA Homegrown. He has also worked with plants at Sandy’s Plants, Ed’s Landscaping, and Azalea Aquariums. He spent much of his childhood wandering through the woods and swamps of central Virginia and is always happy for a nice day to enjoy nature. A graduate of Roanoke College, with a Bachelor’s in English, he spent those years hiking extensively in the mountains of Virginia and planted a garden on campus. In addition to botany, he has studied ichthyology and herpetology (he is known as The Snake Guy; at Sneed’s, where he gives an annual talk on the subject) and has dabbled in ornithology, entomology, and malacology. He loves geeking out with people about nature and the natural world and recommends checking out rvahomegrownnatives.com and following them on Instagram.
A meet-and-greet at 6:30 pm precedes the presentation at 7:00 pm. The meeting will be live at Lewis Ginter Kelly Education Center and available on Zoom. A short business meeting will follow the speaker.
The Pocahontas Chapter is one of 12 Virginia Native Plant Society chapters, and serves the counties of Amelia, Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, King William, New Kent, Powhatan, Prince George, and the cities of Colonial Heights, Hopewell, Petersburg, and Richmond. Membership in a chapter is available to anyone who joins the Virginia Native Plant Society. VNPS members enjoy the natural world and support efforts to preserve Virginia’s native plants. Ranging in age from students to seniors, members are professionals, knowledgeable amateurs and many who are just beginning to learn about our flora. While some members join enthusiastically in activities, others help out occasionally or support the society solely with their memberships and their interest. All are welcome. For more information, visit the state website: http://vnps.org/.