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FMN Spotlight – Virginia Native Plant Society

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FMN once again flicks on the spotlight – this time to shine it on longtime Stewardship opportunity provider, Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) and FMN Alan Ford, our chapter point of contact for VNPS.

Alan getting to the root of a problem – photo Carol Wolter

Spotlighting our partners and the opportunities they offer creates membership awareness and associates a name with an organization. This also affords FMN a chance to thank them for their tireless contributions over the years.

VNPS has 12 chapters supporting 2750+ members state wide and has endeavored for over thirty years in encouraging appreciation for and promoting engagement with the natural wonders of Virginia. Alan is President of the Potowmack Chapter, which is involved with numerous local and state program initiatives. Activities sponsored and funded by the VNPS include unstinting support for the development and publication of the new Flora of Virginia Project; supporting the Virginia Department of Natural Heritage in their missions, including plant identification, land acquisition and protection; and various educational programs for their membership and the public.
Six Fairfax Master Naturalist’s participated in the inaugural Flora of Virginia Ambassadors certification program in 2024, which was open to all VMN chapters (FMN code E002: Flora of Virginia Ambassadors – – VMN). The next FOV Ambassadors program is projected to convene in spring 2025.

Alan with Lisa Bright (Co-founder & Director Emerita Earth Sangha) sorting native grasses – photo courtesy Alan Ford

The Potowmack Chapter, co-founded the statewide VNPS organization along with the Prince William Wildflower Society. It is the largest VNPS chapter, representing 780 members in the counties of Arlington and Fairfax; cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, and Falls Church. Being the largest chapter in the most urbanized region, poses some challenges on programs and outreach. The chapter is involved with various urban landscape efforts and strives to alleviate the challenges of park funding and invasive plant management.

FMN’s service code for working on VNPS activities is ‘S231: VNPS field work including Green Spring Gardens service — VA Native Plant Society’. This service opportunity provides local stewardship activities for organizing and participating in native plant rescues; assistance with maintaining the Green Spring Gardens Native Plant Trail; and other stewardship and educational programs. VNPS provides lecture presentations, nature walks, and other activities to help the public learn more about local native flora. VNPS provides FMN with many training and volunteer opportunities.  Their programs and field trips are amazing.  VNPS programs emphasize public education, protection of endangered species, native habitat preservation, and encourage appropriate landscape use of native plants. 

Please contact Alan Ford, Potowmack Chapter President, [email protected] for more information on how to get involved as an FMN volunteer or directly in VNPS.
Alan, a former computer science professor at American University, has been an FMN member since 2008 and has accumulated over 2500 FMN service hours, as well as, thousands of hours in service to outdoor parks in Northern Virginia and surrounding communities.

Home Page – VNPS Potowmack Chapter

Acknowledgements:
Alan Ford contributed content and photos for this article.
Marilyn Schroeder contributed the spark.
Cover Photo – Green Springs Gardens, courtesy of FCPA.

 

Virginia Native Plant Society 2023 Annual Workshop [Zoom], March 7th & 14th

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Image: Courtesy of The Virginia Native Plant Society

Tuesdays, March 7 & 14, 2023
6:30 – 9:00 PM

Virtual event

Fee: No charge.

Registration required.

Learn about “Recent Botanical Explorations & Discoveries in the Eastern US” at our online workshop, presented over two consecutive Tuesday evenings.

Zoom session starts at 6:30pm for meet and greet. Two workshop sessions start at 7pm and 8pm both evenings. Please register only once for both sessions.

Click here for workshop presentation abstracts and presenter bios.

Tuesday, March 7th 

7:00PM

Botanical and Taxonomic Discovery in the Eastern US:
Harnessing Technology & Applications to Bring Botany into the Modern Era

Presenter: Scott Ward, Research Botanist, NC Botanical Gardens

 

8:00PM

The Dichanthelium Break-Up: A Classic “It’s not them, it’s us” Story

Justin Thomas, Director and Botanist, NatureCITE

Tuesday, March 14th 

7:00PM

From Bloodroot to Banyan: 1,000 Miles of Botanical Explorations and Discoveries Across Florida’s Diverse Ecosystems

Lilly Byrd, Botanist, Florida Native Plant Society

 

8:00PM

Recent Botanical Finds at the Virginia Natural Heritage Program

Joey Thompson

 

Butterfly Gardening with Native Plants, May 5th

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Photo:  Virginia Native Plant Society

Thursday, May 5, 2022
2 – 3pm
Tyson-Pimmit Regional Library, Meeting Room 1
7584 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church
No signup is required.

Most people know that monarch caterpillars can only eat milkweed plants, but many aren’t aware that other caterpillars have similarly restricted diets.

Margaret Chatham, a local native plant gardener and long-time member of the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS), will share photos and lots of information about the native plants, known as larval host plants, that various species of caterpillars can digest. Learn how to create a butterfly-friendly habitat In your own yard by planting a variety of native larval host plants. Enjoy beautiful photos of the butterflies and silk moths that you can look forward to seeing in your own butterfly garden. Adults.

Below the Surface: How Plants & Geology Interact, webinars March 8th & 15th

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Tuesdays, March 8 and 15, 2022
6:30 pm, meet and greet both evenings
Sessions start at 7pm and 8pm both evenings
Please register only once for both sessions

Join Virginia Native Plant Society for either or both evenings on geology and plants. March 8th’s sessions topics are Land Management Lessons from Piedmont Prairies and Virginia’s Geology. On March 15th the topics are Geology and Soil Parent Materials as Determinants of Natural Communities in Virginia and the Carolinas and Beyond Substrates.

Stop Mowing, Start Growing: Native Plants for Beginners and Beyond! February 12th

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Photo courtesy of Virginia Native Plant Society

Saturday, February 12, 2022
9 am – 2:30 pm
Online
Fee: $15
Register here.

Whether you are new to native plants and what they can do for your property or you are looking for alternative landscaping ideas, this event is for you! Native plants can:

Create a beautiful yard
Save time so you can enjoy other activities
Create habitat for birds & pollinators
Save money on fertilizer & pesticides
Improve Water Quality
Curb Erosion

Keynote: Natural Plant Communities, Native Plants, and You, presented by Matt Bright of Earth Sangha. Natural Plant Communities exist all around us and are the fundamental way plant species arrange themselves in a natural setting. By understanding these arrangements and mimicking them in our own gardens and built environments we can maximize ecological value and retain a sense of place in the landscape. Matt will introduce the many resources that exist to decode the natural landscape around us including Earth Sangha’s Native Plant Compendium, Glenn Tobin’s Natural Ecological Communities of Northern Virginia, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Natural Heritage program and other resources for regions farther afield.

See the whole schedule, learn more or register here.

My Year Playing with Litter: Exploring the Effects of Leaf Litter Removal on Insect Communities, November 14th

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Virginia Native Plant Society, Potowmack Chapter
2021 Annual Meeting & Program
Sunday, November 14, 2021
2:30 pm
Register here.

Annual meeting begins at 1:30 with social time, then annual business meeting and elections. The presentation by Max Ferlauto begins at 2:30.

Max Ferlauto outlines his PhD dissertation research and discusses preliminary results.

Max grew up in Arlington, Virginia where he gained an appreciation for native plants and insects through local environmental organizations, such as the Potowmack Chapter of VNPS. He received his bachelor’s degree in Plant Ecology from Juniata College. He is now a 3rd year PhD student at the University of Maryland Entomology Department in Karin Burghardt’s Lab. Dr. Burghardt is a former student of Doug Tallamy and has published research with him.
Max studies how landscaping practices, such as leaf litter management, affect urban ecosystems.

The Southeast’s Diverse Flora: Discoveries, Conservation & Identification with Alan Weakley webinar, April 8th

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Red Maple (Acer rubrum) ; photo by Margaret Chatham

Thursday, April 8, 2021
7:30 – 9 pm
Register here.

Alan Weakley is a plant taxonomist, community ecologist, and conservationist specializing in the Southeastern United States. He holds a B.A. from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. from Duke University. He has worked as botanist and ecologist for the N.C. Natural Heritage Program, and as regional and chief ecologist for The Nature Conservancy and NatureServe. He is currently Director of the University of North Carolina Herbarium, a department of the N.C. Botanical Garden, and teaches as adjunct faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill and at the Highlands Biological Station.

Dr. Weakly is author of the Flora of the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic States, and co-author (with Chris Ludwig and Johnny Townsend) of the Flora of Virginia, which has received five awards, including the Thomas Jefferson Award for Conservation.

Hosted by Virginia Native Plant Society, Potowmack Chapter.

Life in your Wild Garden webinar, February 11th

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Laura Beaty, photo courtesy of VNPS

Thursday, February 11, 2021
7:30-9 pm
Register here

Growing numbers of gardeners are incorporating native plants into their landscapes in an effort to mitigate the growing loss of pollinators and leafeaters. This loss is global and compromises interactions in natural habitats worldwide. Here at home, many gardeners have been surprised by what they are observing in their wild gardens. Join the Virginia Native Plant Society to see inside a wild garden — then look deeper into yours. Presented by Laura Beaty.

Laura Beaty has been working in the great outdoors since she was old enough to hold a rake. She earned a degree in history followed by a degree in horticulture, and worked nearly 20 years for the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the National Parks Conservation Association.

Laura is VNPS Horticulture Chair and serves as the propagation chair at the native plant beds at Green Spring Gardens. She is a popular speaker about native plants to Master Gardener candidates at Green Spring Park, local garden clubs, and occasionally, propagation workshops at the chapter’s beds.

Laura is converting her own property to a “modified meadow,” which includes some trees and shrubs—all native plants. She hopes that her plant installations will soon become easy maintenance. But as all gardeners know, a garden is a life-long labor of love.

Recovering Native Plant Diversity in the Piedmont, webinar, November 15th

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Photo courtesy of VNPS

Sunday, November 15, 2020
1 pm
Register here.

Join the Virginia Native Plant Society (Potowmack Chapter) for their annual meeting. The speaker at the event will be Dr. Andrea Weeks of George Mason University. She will be discussing her research project, Recovering Native Plant Diversity in the Piedmont, that aims to initiate a long-term floristic study of Gilbert’s Corner in Loudoun County to support ongoing habitat restoration at the site – and to educate the public about the importance of conserving local biodiversity. Dr. Weeks is the recipient of the inaugural Mary Pockman Memorial Research Grant from VNPS.

Dr. Andrea Weeks

Dr. Weeks’ research focuses on the systematics, historical biogeography, and evolution of flowering plants, particularly those within the frankincense and myrrh family, Burseraceae. Dr. Weeks is also director of the Ted R. Bradley Herbarium at George Mason University and is engaged in making this valuable resource of information about the Virginia flora available to the public via the internet.

More on Dr. Weeks’ research here.

VNPS Potowmack Chapter End of Season Plant Sales Reduced Prices

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Photo by Laura Beaty

The best time of year to plant is Fall. The soil is warm and the cooler air temperatures help new plantings overcome transplant shock, roots have time to grow before the cold sets in — and even longer before plants will start to grow again in the spring — when early spring bloomers will sustain early pollinators if planted now.

Due to the pandemic, the Potowmack chapter of Virginia Native Plant Society has not been able to hold their in-person plant sales this year. They count on selling plants that don’t over-winter well in pots. In order to make room and to find homes for our plants, they have decided to have an end of season sale so their loyal customers can enjoy our bounty.
 
All of their potted plants may be purchased, but they have reduced the price of 24 species to $3 each or 2 for $5. In addition, they are offering 11 other species at the rate of 1 free plant for each plant you purchase. They have sale prices for Milkweed, White Wood Aster, Great Blue Lobelia, Wild Bergamot, Orange Coneflower and New England Aster, to name a few.
 
The sales prices will be in effect for the remainder of the season. They are open for sales every Wednesday morning in October from 10 am until 1 pm until we close down the beds for the winter.
 
They have also marked down almost all their grasses, sedges and rushes, and many of their small trees are FREE, so here’s a good opportunity to give them a try! Come see what they have!
 
Please bring a box to carry your purchases home.

They will happily accept empty pot donations in the 1- to 2-gallon size. 
Cash or check only, please. Their sales take place behind the Horticulture Center at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA.
 
They observe Fairfax County COVID-19 Guidelines.