As a state employee, I appreciated what your administration did several years ago to encourage folks to visit Capitol Square.

That space is a true jewel that can be, and should be, used to show off the Commonwealth to the rest of the country and to the world. It is now used to highlight figures from the state’s history from the Native Americans who lived here for centuries to George Washington to Barbara Johns to leading women. Overlooking it all is the magnificent Capitol designed by Virginia native Thomas Jefferson.

I propose that it now be used to also showcase other things native to Virginia—its plants. Transforming Capitol Square into a Virginia native plant public garden would be a lasting ecological gift your administration could give to Virginia and its citizens.

The Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society serving the four counties of Virginia’s Northern Neck is offering an academic scholarship for 2021 in the amount of one thousand dollars ($1000) to a deserving high school senior who shows an interest in and an aptitude for furthering their studies at an institution of higher learning.

Read all about American Wisteria (W. frutescens), our 2021 Wildflower of the Year on the VNPS Blog.

The “Plant Northern Neck Natives” campaign, of which Northern Neck Native Plant Society is a partner, is pleased to be collaborating with other campaigns across the state to offer a series of 12 webinars - 6 this spring and 6 this fall. The webinars will guide you through the why and how to turn your home garden into a beautiful retreat for your family and a native habitat for birds and other wildlife.

There will be no traditional Native Plant Sale and no Market Days Make-up Sale at Wicomico Parish Church this year. The stars are not aligned this year—masks, gloves, sanitizers, social distancing—plus comparing notes with other like-minded local non-profits, made us come to this conclusion.

From the age of 9, I grew up as Marion Louise Coble in Stanley, NC from 1955 through 1968. As a child I explored the woods about my home on North Peterson Street. An intersecting street was East Poplar where I found a woody plant with very large leaves. I even pressed some of the smaller leaves of this tree for my Girl Scout “Tree” merit badge. All of us children in the neighborhood called this plant “Elephant Ears.”