Our logo features little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) which provides nesting habitat for Eastern towhees and smooth aster (Symphyotrichum laeve) which hosts the larval stage (caterpillar) of the pearl crescent butterfly. Eastern towhees eat the aster seeds and rely on caterpillars for protein to raise their young. Thanks to Anne Elise Lintelman for drawing our logo!
The Plant Ridge & Valley Natives campaign includes the following 11 counties (from north to south): Frederick, Clarke, Warren, Shenandoah, Page, Rockingham, Augusta, Highland, Bath, Rockbridge, and Alleghany. We also include the cities of Winchester, Harrisonburg, Staunton, Waynesboro, Lexington, Buena Vista, and Covington.
Connect through our Facebook Group Virginia Ridge & Valley Native Plants
or via email to shenandoahchapter [at] gmail.com.
In May 2023, we published the first edition of Plant Ridge & Valley Natives: A Gardener’s Guide to Virginia’s Ridge & Valley Native Plants. This full-color, spiral-bound book contained 144 pages of beautiful native plants suitable to using in a home garden or commercial landscape to provide not only beauty but high ecological value to the local ecosystem. It also includes six garden designs created specifically for this guide by ecologist Iara Lacher and garden designer Anne Elise Lintelman. You may download a free PDF of the guide by clicking the button.
UPDATE:
The second edition is scheduled for printing in October 2024. Enlarged to 172 pages, the revised guide will have an index and glossary, and new plant lists for gardening challenges such as deer, black walnut, and drought. We’ve added several new species of wildflowers, shrubs, trees, and vines.
This campaign is managed through the Shenandoah Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society and coordinated by Anna Maria Johnson and Barbara Brothers.
To connect, contact us at shenandoahchapter [at] gmail.com
*Thanks to conservation photographer Steven David Johnson for providing our banner image featuring a hummingbird clearwing moth on Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot or bee balm).
