Winter Symposium & Central Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association Short Course Homes and Habitats, February 12th and 13th

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Image: Courtesy of the Winter Symposium & CVNLA Short Course

 

Wednesday, February 12 & Thursday, February 13, 2025
9:00 am – 3:55 pm

In-Person OR Virtually, via Zoom

Click here for more session information and ticket/registration details.

Presented by Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Central Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association, and Virginia Cooperative Extension

Explore the intricate relationships that exist between ecosystems, communities, and humankind, focusing on the importance of the reciprocal relationships between plants, animals, and humans. Learn how, as gardeners and landscape professionals, can steward the land to support our natural ecosystems, foster biodiversity and build resiliency in our changing climate.

Join the sessions on Wednesday, February 12 and Thursday, February 13 to hear a variety of engaging experts including Silvermoon LaRose (Assistant Director of the Tomaquag Museum), Jared Rosenbaum (author of Wild Plant Culture: A Guide to Restoring Native Edible and Medicinal Plant Communities), James Golden (author of The View from Federal Twist: a New Way of Thinking about Gardens, Nature and Ourselves), Jared Barnes, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Horticulture, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX), Robert Shaut (Casey Trees), Kasey Yturralde (USDA Forest Service), Jessie Ward (Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories) and many more.

 

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12 SESSIONS

OHKEHTEAU UNNEHTONGQUATASH, PLANT STORIES
Silvermoon LaRose, Tomaguag Museum

WILD PLANT CULUTRE: RESTORING NATIVE EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL PLANT COMMUNITIES

Jared Rosenbaum,Wild Ridge Plants, LLC

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT: MICRO PLANTINGS FOR MACRO IMPACT

Dr. Jared Barnes, Stephen F Austin State University

PLANTING TREES IN A CHANGING CLIMATE: ADAPTING TO SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SHIFTS
Robert Shaut, Casey Trees

THE VIEWFROM FEDERAL TWIST: A NEWWAY OF THINKING ABOUT GARDENS, NATURE, AND OURSELVES

James Golden, Author

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13 SESSIONS

CULTURAL CONTROL: AN IPM TOOL FOR PEST AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT
Jessie Ward, Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories

SUPPORTING RESILIENT FORESTS AND COMMUNITIES IN A TIME OF CHANGE
Kasey Yturralde, USDA Forest Service

A CELEBRATION OF ECCENTRICITIES – FAMOUS PLANT PEOPLE AND THEIR PLANTS
Tony Avent, Juniper Level Botanic Garden and Plant Delights Nursery

TINY HOMES FOR TINY INSECTS – ADVANCES IN INSECT GALL DEVELOPMENT
Sarah Melissa Witiak, Virginia State Universit

CHASING THE BLOOM IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS

Don Hyatt, American Rhododendron Society

 

The Phenomenon of Tree Suds

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Photo: Suds ring on exposed tree root.

Photos and article by FMN Stephen Tzikas

Recently I noticed my Hornbeam tree was oozing suds.  These bubbles appeared near the base of the tree while it was raining.

Foamy suds at tree base.

The chemical reactions occurring in a tree that “foams” is very similar to what occurs when creating soap.  A few factors can account for this.  Sometimes tree sap can be soap-like, and hence the bubbles.  In other cases, previously settled air pollutants and plant materials interact forming a soap. These air pollutants and other nearby contaminants, might be a mix of ingredients that include salts, chemicals, and acids.  When wetted with rain water, they can combine forming rudimentary soaps.

Yet other times the foam seems to ooze from a specific spot on the trunk.  This could be an indication of a bacterial disease called slime flux or foamy canker.  If a tree had been infected, the bacteria could break down the tree tissue forming alcohol and carbon dioxide.  As the carbon dioxide escapes, it forms bubbles.

Tree suds are not restricted to Hornbeam trees.  They can form on any tree if the conditions are right.  Often oak, hickory, and poplar trees exhibit suds more frequently because of their large diameters and deep bark ridges.  These suds are harmless.

 

Five Lessons We Can Learn from Plants, March 13th

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Image: Courtesy of the Clifton Institute

Thursday, March 13, 2025
7:00 – 8:00 PM

This is a virtual event

This is a free seminar.

Registration is required. Click here for registration details.

A Clifton Institue Presentation

As pet owners, bird watchers, and animals ourselves, we are very familiar with how animal bodies work and what animals need to survive. It’s easy to overlook the plants that are quietly living their lives around us all the time. But there’s a lot we can learn by paying attention to plants. In this Zoom presentation, Co-Director and plant enthusiast Eleanor Harris, Ph.D., will share some of the life lessons we can learn from plants, some of the mind-boggling ways they are different from animals, and some things we all have in common. Consider this a little Botany 101 to kickstart your relationship with plants before the growing season really gets going.

A BFF to the ‘Friends of Trees’

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The Fairfax County Tree Commission’s “Friends of Trees Awards” are awarded annually to recognize exceptional and innovative conservation-based tree activities in Fairfax County and the people behind them.
FMN Maryam Dadkhah, received the 2024 award in the ‘Individual’ category for providing extraordinary unpaid leadership in conceiving and implementing various tree-related projects throughout the year.

FMN Maryam Dadkhah – photo courtesy C. Wolter

She first volunteered as a Fairfax Master Naturalist in 2022. The award announcement mentions that Maryam has worked as a community leader to educate the public and local agencies about native trees and plants since 2021.

Highlights from her array of 2024 stewardship activities include:
* volunteer Project Manager for Fairfax ReLeaf
* volunteered with the Town of Vienna’s Parks superintendent to improve area parks through native tree and shrub seedling planting and protection
* partnered with Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District and

Maryam’s rain barrels – photo William Mayhew

Fairfax Releaf to plant 337+ native trees and shrubs in the Vienna public parks of Wildwood, Glyndon, and Southside
* served her third year as a group leader from Navy Federal, instructing employee volunteers on invasive removal and native tree and shrub planting
* worked with Fairfax County Park Authority’s Invasive Management Areas Program to cage active tree seedlings in Middleridge and Woodglen Lake Parks
* Encouraged and educated local friends and family to plant and maintain native areas on their personal property in an organized, tidy, compliant manner – planting 146 trees and shrubs in county neighborhoods including her own.

Maryam also engages in “passive” education with a highly visible little book and seed library on her property. Anyone walking by can peruse or borrow

Maryam’s Little Seed and Book Library – photo William Mayhew

books describing native plants and their benefits. Small drawers hold a collection of free seed packets. She also makes native plant magnets for this unique neighborhood library. From one seed packet for one person, to hundreds of trees planted by family, friends or volunteers, Maryam makes it happen.

 

Acknowledgements:

– Fairfax County Tree Commission – content and photo
– FMN Sarah Mayhew and William Mayhew – content and photos

– FMN Janet Quinn – research

– FMN Jerry Nissley – cover photo

 

Saving Coral Reefs in the Sunshine State, with Mote Marine Laboratory, Webinar, January 21st

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Photo: Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) by James G. Douglass via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC-4.0)

Tuesday, January 21, 2025
7 – 8:30 pm
Register here.

Florida’s coral reefs have lost over 95% of their living coral cover over the last 50 years and are on the brink of functional extinction. In Smithsonian Environmental Research Center’s (SERC) first evening science talk of the year, Dr. Erinn Muller will reveal how scientists at Mote Marine Laboratory are meeting the dire need for active coral restoration. She’ll touch on methods like coral nursery rearing and outplanting, and present the latest research helping restored corals resist disease and adapt to climate change. She will also highlight the importance of live coral biobanking and cryopreservation. In the race against environmental degradation, Mote scientists have created an International Coral Gene Bank as a “Noah’s Ark for coral species preservation.”

Dr. Muller is an Associate Vice President for Research, a Senior Scientist, and the Coral Health and Disease Program Manager at Mote Marine Laboratory and the Director of Mote’s International Coral Gene Bank – a ‘Noah’s Ark for coral species preservation’. Dr. Muller’s research focuses on identifying corals that are resilient to major threats such as climate change and coral disease to help inform Mote’s coral restoration activities. Dr. Muller has studied coral health and disease for the last 20 years, researching reefs around the world including the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Florida Keys and Saudi Arabia. She has over 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals, co-authored several book chapters, been a mentor for over 50 undergraduate interns and graduate students. She also helped co-create a research-based after school program for high school students in the Florida Keys and U.S. Virgin Islands.

Vernal Pools from Ice Age to Space Age, Webinar, February 13th

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Photo: Vernal pool  by Michael Hayslett

Thursday, February 13, 2025
7 – 8:30 pm
Register here.

Join Virginia Native Plant Society Potowmack Chapter and vernal pool expert Michael Hayslett who will present “Vernal Pools from Ice Age to Space Age.”

A vernal pool is a form of temporary, freshwater wetland that contains water for a portion of the year and supports a fantastic array of wildlife and plants, some specially adapted for these habitats and many being rare species in Virginia. Vernal pools are often found in the floodplain of a stream, in seasonally-flooded woodlands, as sinkhole ponds, or where rainwater and snow collect in forest depressions.
[https://virginiavernalpools.com]

Mike Hayslett pioneered vernal pool awareness in Virginia. With over 30 years of traveling the state educating, studying pools, and advising on these freshwater wetlands, he became known as “Virginia’s leading vernal pools expert.” He promotes conservation of these unique habitats, and helps communities and landowners better understand, appreciate and manage their vernal pool wetlands and related wildlife.

Photo: Sheila Sund from Salem, Wooly Bear Caterpillar, United States, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Where Do Wildlife Go in Winter?

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Photo: Sheila Sund from Salem, Wooly Bear Caterpillar, United States, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Where Do Wildlife Go in Winter? article by Betsy Martin featured as a Wildlife Sanctuary Almanac article for Northern Virginia Bird Alliance.

The ancients puzzled over the disappearance and reappearance of birds. Aristotle thought they transformed into other species in winter, which explained why robins appeared just as redstarts disappeared in Greece. In the 16th century, Olaus Magnus theorized that swallows buried themselves in clay at the bottom of rivers in wintertime. In the 17th century, Charles Morton offered the most fantastic theory of all, that birds flew to the moon and back every year.

We know now that migration on earth accounts for the disappearance and reappearance of birds. But what about other creatures? Learning their whereabouts gives us the chance to help many of them overwinter and reappear in the spring. Keep reading here.

 

 

First Hike Fairfax Photo Contest returns for 2025! Submission Before Noon on Thursday, January 2nd

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Image: Courtesy of Fairfax County Government – First Hike

The amazingly popular First Hike Fairfax Photo Contest returns for 2025! Grab your coats and cameras and join the fun on New Year’s Day along more than 334 miles of Park Authority trails.

Participation is simple:

Visit any FCPA trail on Wednesday, January 1, 2025. Take a photo to commemorate the experience and submit it online before Noon on Thursday, January 2. The photo submission link will be posted here by 7 a.m. on January 1, 2025.

Win prizes in one of the following seven categories; prizes are sponsored by the Fairfax County Park Foundation:

  • People’s Choice: $100 Park Authority Gift Card or 25-visit FCPA Rec Center Discount Fast Pass (valued at $175)
  • Judges’ Choice: $100 Park Authority Gift Card or 25-visit FCPA Rec Center Discount Fast Pass (valued at $175)
  • Director’s Choice: $100 Park Authority Gift Card
  • Best in Show (Scenery/Landscapes): $75 Park Authority Gift Card
  • Best in Show (People): $75 Park Authority Gift Card
  • Best in Show (Wildlife): $75 Park Authority Gift Card
  • Best in Show (Pets): $75 Park Authority Gift Card

PHOTO CONTEST RULES

  • First Hike Fairfax is open to amateur and professional photographers.
  • Photos must be taken on a Park Authority trail on Wednesday, January 1, 2025
  • Submissions must be made online. A link will be provided above by 7 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025.
  • Only one photo entry per person will be accepted (multiple family members may submit photos individually).
  • Photos must be in JPG format (no bigger than 5MB is preferred)
  • Contest submissions must clearly indicate the date and what Park Authority trail the photo was taken.
  • See full contest rules.

Need inspiration? See all photo submissions for First Hike 2024!

 

Calling All Teachers: Apply for NVBA’s Hog Island Scholarship by February 25th

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Photo: Walker Golder/Audubon Photography Awards, Atlantic Puffins 

Each year Northern Virginia Bird Alliance (NVBA) offers a full scholarship and transportation to “Sharing Nature: An Educator’s Week” at National Audubon Society’s Hog Island Camp in Maine.

Hog Island Audubon Camp has offered environmental education programs for adults, teens, families and conservation leaders since 1936. While there, educators learn interdisciplinary hands-on methods and approaches to environmental education while immersed in the natural world. Educator’s Week in the coming year is August 10-15. To learn more and apply, click here.

Please help spread the word by sharing this with any teachers you know in northern Virginia. Thank you!

Dreaming of Forests

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Photo: Induction Ceremony, FMN Janet Quinn*

Article by FMN Stacey Remick

It is possible to save and celebrate forests.  I know it does not seem possible when you see so many tracts of beautiful trees destroyed for roads and further development.  I am here to tell you that you can dream big and bring your local forests, parks and private lands into a network of recognized Community and Old Growth Forests.

St. Peter’s in the Woods Episcopal Church dreamed big this year.  In 2019, we were awarded what is now the Wildlife Sanctuary designation through the Northern Virginia Bird Alliance, in part because of our native gardens.  We continued our congregational work in setting the cultural and infrastructural foundations of sustainability and Earth care practices.  So, in May of this year, I proposed to the church governing board that I submit a petition for our Sanctuary Forest to be considered for inclusion into the Old Growth Forest Network.

Photo: Forest at dawn, FMN Stacey Remick

Our property sits in a Resource Protection Area (RPA) as part of the Virginia Commonwealth’s Chesapeake Bay Ordinance.  Being designated as an Old Growth Forest would be a confirmation of this protected status — more than this, a public statement of our commitment to the continued practices of stewardship of this mature forest that it will become an old-growth forest.  Our unique placement in a zone of resource protection is permanent and would have stood whether or not we submitted for this designation.  We wanted to make public our commitment and responsibility.

We have two retaining ponds and the forest itself is a riparian buffer that contributes to the protection of both the Occoquan and Chesapeake Bay watersheds.  The forest is close to 100 years old and has all the characteristics of a mature forest, which means that it is not fully old-growth yet but it will become old-growth within a decade.  It contains a meditation trail of about .2 miles and is used by not just our congregation but our surrounding community.

I began the process by contacting the Old Growth Forest Network with a basic description of our forest as well as pictures and video of it over the last year.  We worked with

Photo: Meditation trail, FMN Stacey Remick

Brian Kane to go over the key critical criteria for the designation.  Once I had done the required research, the final documentation was submitted.  We signed a Memorandum of Understanding which outlined our responsibilities and then began planning for a September 14, 2024 induction ceremony.

As of September 14th, we are listed on the national Old Growth Forest Community Forests website, have been invited to speak at webinars and will soon be featured in the international Episcopal E-Communique Living Church.  Other congregations are looking to us as an example of what is possible to hope for and aspire to.  One result is that the Virginia Master Naturalists (VMN) program got a boost when Virginia Senator Stella Pekarsky and Virginia Delegate Dan Hellman learned about the Virginia Master Naturalists active in our congregation.  They had never heard of VMN, much less the Fairfax Chapter, before coming to the ceremony.

If you are a private landowner, know of a park where there is a mature forest or you live in a community that has such a forested space, do not give up hope.  Consider talking with the Old Growth Forest Network.  No matter how large or small a forest, such a designation moves us closer to saving more of our precious forest ecosystems.

Please feel free to visit St. Peter’s in the Woods (https://www.stpetersinthewoods.org) anytime during the year.  For more information about the Old Growth Forest Network (https://www.oldgrowthforest.net) contact Brian Kane.  If you would like to join me for a walk in our forest or a retreat, please contact me at [email protected].

* Pictured in feature photo:

Furthest left – Christopher Topoleski, Executive Director, Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions (FACS)
Front row to the right of Christopher Topoleski
Andreana Jinju Lin, Communications and Outreach Manager (FACS)
Stacey Remick, author
Brian Kane, Old Growth Forest Network
Rev. Susan Hartzell, St. Peter’s in the Woods

Back row left to right
Fatima Malik, representing Congressman Gerry Connolly
Virginia State Senator Stella Pekarsky
Virginia State Delegate Dan Helmer
Kristine Montamat, Chair, Diocese of Virginia Creation Care Committee.