April is the month to plant and celebrate TREES! No need to wait for Earth Day (April 22nd) or Arbor Day (April 29th) to select and plant a glorious tree to enrich your home landscape. This month’s program on Celebrating Native Trees (April 15) will discuss 20 species of trees native to our area. The fact sheets on native trees within the MGNV Tried and True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic are a rich online resource. No room for a tree? Then consider upgrading your shrubs and refresh yourself on the best practices for tree and shrub care when watering, mulching, pruning and dealing with pests or diseases to help these botanical marvels thrive in our tough urban environment.
Plant NOVA Trees | Beautiful Native Trees Videos | Additional Resources
Plant NOVA Trees
Plant NOVA Trees is a focused drive by the Plant NOVA Natives campaign to increase the native tree canopy in Northern Virginia. The drive launched in September 2021 and continues through the fall of 2026.
Plant NOVA Trees is a partnership made up of representatives from state and local agencies, not-for-profit and for-profit organizations, and numerous concerned citizens, all pooling their resources to work toward this common goal. The campaign’s success rests on the action of the millions of individuals who make up our Northern Virginia community. The majority of trees in our region, and of spaces that need more trees, are on private property.
You make a difference with every Virginia native you plant on your property and with every mature tree you preserve. Just as important is spreading the word to your friends, neighbors and colleagues.
Beautiful Native Plants
The Glencarlyn Library Community Garden coordinators have created a new series of short videos highlighting the beauty of native plants. We will be sharing these videos as well as additional resources on our website every month as well as glossary words that go along with each month’s topic.
While most of the Glencarlyn videos have a science-based, instructional focus, the series on “Beautiful Native Plants” was created to simply celebrate the ornamental characteristics of many species that are either native to the Mid-Atlantic region or are environmentally friendly and grow well here. Based on a personal library of still photos and a few video clips, each presentation introduces viewers to around a dozen plants, providing scientific and common names and illustrating their full forms as well as details of buds, flowers, and foliage through the seasons. The videos are designed to be viewed with audio on to provide a background of music and the sounds of nature. You are invited to fall in love with beautiful native plants.
Understory Trees
Featured Trees
- Aesculus pavia (Red Buckeye)*
- Amelanchier arborea (Downy Serviceberry)*
- Carpinus caroliniana (American Hornbeam)*
- Cercis canadensis (Eastern Redbud)*
- Chionanthus virginicus (Fringetree)*
- Cornus florida (Flowering Dogwood)*
- Crataegus crus-galli (Cockspur Hawthorn)*
- Magnolia virginiana (Sweetbay Magnolia)*
- Sassafras albidum (Sassafras)*
- Halesia tetraptera (Carolina Silverbell)
Tall Trees
Featured Trees
- Acer rubrum (Red Maple)*
- Betula nigra (River Birch)*
- Carya ovata (Shagbark Hickory)*
- Diospyros virginiana (American Persimmon)
- Ilex opaca (American Holly)*
- Juniperus virginiana (Eastern Redcedar)*
- Liquidambar styraciflua (Sweetgum)*
- Liriodendron tulipifera (Tulip Poplar)*
- Nyssa sylvatica (Black Gum)*
- Taxodium distichum (Bald Cypress)*
*Tried & True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic
Additional Resources:
- Tried and True Native Plant Selections for the Mid Atlantic: Trees
- Invasive Trees and Better Alternatives
Articles from MGNV
- Celebrating Native Trees – April 6, 2022
- Assessing and Dealing with Snowstorm Damage on Trees – January 5, 2022
- Planting Trees – October 30, 2021
- Increasing Our Tree Canopy – August 31, 2021
- Protecting Young Trees from Deer – January 20, 2021
- Small Trees Make Big Canopies – May 27, 2020
- Watering New [Tree] Plantings in Winter – January 22, 2020
- Climate Change, Weather Extremes, and Oak Decline – January 8, 2020
- Identifying Trees by Their Bark – January 5, 2020
- In the Winter Garden, 2019 Edition – December 25, 2019
- Essential Native Trees and Shrubs for the Eastern United States [book review]- October 30, 2019
- Healthy Bark, Healthy Tree Part 2: Mechanical and Weather Damage – March 13, 2019
- Healthy Bark, Healthy Tree Part 1: Wildlife and Fungi Damage – March 11, 2019 (updated April 12, 2022)
- Are You Lichen the Bark? Five Birch Trees of the Mid-Atlantic Region – February 6, 2019
- Are You Lichen the Bark? Beautiful Bark – January 30, 2019
Illustrated Glossary
- cauliflory: flowers and fruit produced directly on trunks and branches of woody plants rather than on new growth or the ends of twigs/shoots
- deciduous: not evergreen, used in botany to describe trees, shrubs, and lianas (vines) that shed all their leaves in one season.
- flute: a vertical fold or groove in the stem of a tree
- knee: a conical woody growth above water from the roots of some trees
- lenticel: a pore or aggregation of cells penetrating the surface of stems and through which gases are exchanged between the atmosphere and the underlying tissues
- marcescent: remaining attached although withered (leaves, petals, sepals)
- samara: a winged achene
- strobilus: cone-shaped mass of ovule- or spore-bearing scales or bracts; reproductive structure of conifers
Public Education Recorded Classes
- Celebrating Native Trees March 15, 2022
- Pruning Trees and Shrubs: Winter – Updated in 2022! – February 18, 2022
- Native Trees: How to Select, Plant and Transplant – October 26, 2021
- Tree Care: Managing Pests and Diseases – September 25, 2021
- Fruit Producing Trees: Insect and Disease Management Strategies – Part III – May 19, 2021
- Native Plants for Winter Interest – October 27, 2020
- Fruit Trees and Berries for the Urban Landscape: Natives – Part II – August 17, 2020
- Fruit Trees and Berries for the Urban Landscape: Selecting – Part I – July 20, 2020