Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia
Over 40 Years of Growing Gardens and Gardeners
Tried and True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic
Those who frequent sites along ponds and rivers likely recognize wildlife-favorite, native Buttonbush and its sweet-scented, one-inch flower heads—suggestive of round pincushions when in bloom in summer. The Virginia Native Plant Society honored Buttonbush as Wildflower of the Year in 2022.
The Glencarlyn Library Community Garden coordinators have created a new series of short videos about locally invasive plants and native alternatives. This month's post is on Fountain Grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides).
Tried and True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic
Spectacular in sweeping drifts, the blades of this species droop to form a fine-textured skirt for rosy-red plumes displayed in a spherical crown. The genus name honors Henry Muhlenberg whose study of plants earned him distinction as America’s first outstanding botanist.
This month, our houseplant expert, Evin Morrison, answers questions about overwatering and managing your houseplant collection.
Tried and True Native Plant Selections for the Mid-Atlantic
Lovely, lemon-scented, cup-shaped flowers appear mid-spring and intermittently throughout summer, followed by showy, cone-like fruit. This elegant tree appears in two forms: often multi-trunked/deciduous north of North Carolina and single-trunked/evergreen southward. It is native to lowlands and freshwater swamps along the Mid-Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
If you read about plants, you've seen the words monocot and dicot. “Mono” means single and “di” means two, but what about “cot”?
It’s short for cotyledon. In angiosperms, it's the first leaf of monocotyledons or one of the first pair of leaves of dicotyledons that emerge from a seed.
