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Tried and True Native Plant Selections
for the Mid-Atlantic
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Tradescantia virginiana (Spiderwort)
This showy native, whose genus name honors naturalist John Tradescant, grows in scattered pockets throughout the eastern half of the United States.* Its common name may derive from several characteristics: its crouching spider-like leaf arrangement, web-like flower filaments or web-like sap secretions from cut stems. The Virginia Native Plant Society honored Spiderwort as Wildflower of the Year in 2008.
*It is native in DC, uncommon in the DE Piedmont and widely scattered in PA with concentrations in Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. In VA, it is frequent in the mountains, infrequent in the Piedmont (although it is found in Fairfax and Loudoun counties) and inner Coastal Plain, and rare in the outer Coastal Plain.
Learn more about other Mid-Atlantic plants:
Tried and True Native Plant Fact Sheets