Zoom Presentation by Johnny Townsend, Senior Botanist for Virginia’s Natural Heritage Division on Virginia’s newest plant discoveries.
Program by Heather Bedford on Medicinal Uses of Native Plants. Lancaster Community Library Meeting Room (Date and Time is tentative )
Program on Tidal Freshwater Marshes with Maeve Coker. Time to be determined.
Start off 2025 in nature with a walk in the woods and a chance to see Virginia’s earliest blooming plant – Skunk Cabbage – yes it often is in bloom on January 1. And the best woods walk in the Northern Neck is at Hickory Hollow Natural Area Preserve near Lancaster, off Regina Road.
NN VNPS President Betsy Washington and Vice President Kevin Howe will again this year lead a first day of the year nature walk on New Year’s Day, meeting at 1 pm at the Hickory Hollow parking lot. This is free and open to all.
Hickory Hollow is a delightful place to welcome in the New Year and is one of the four Virginia Natural Area Preserves in the Northern Neck. Skunk Cabbage is one of the few plants that can produce its own heat enabling it to rise above near freezing or snow-covered ground. Research has found it can raise its temperature in winter to 50-70 or more degrees and maintain a high internal temperature for about two weeks”. The walk will be to the unique 22-acre Cabin Swamp, about a two-mile walk roundtrip. Sturdy shoes should be worn as the trail down to the swamp is somewhat narrow and steep.
The 254 acres at Hickory Hollow is one of the 66 state natural area preserves, all of which were created and are protected because they contain some of the rarest natural communities and unique species habitats in North America. Hickory Hollow fits that definition well as it contains one of the few globally rare natural community known as a "coastal plain basic seepage swamp” and supports a high level of biological diversity including one orchid found nor where else in Virginia.
Hickory Hollow was established in 2000 and is owned by the Northern Neck Audubon Society but managed by the Virginia Dept of Conservation and Recreation’s, Division of Natural Heritage.
For directions, comments, or just stating intentions to attend, email nnvnps@gmail.com
Program by NN VNPS Vice President Kevin Howe (and State VNPS Vice President) on fantastic fungi and their floral partners, followed by a field trip to learn about fungi and their partners. Join us for a brown bag lunch at noon before the program and field trip. Location and more details coming.
The Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society will host an open public meeting and program at the Lancaster Community Library, 235 School St. Kilmarnock, on Thursday, October 17th from Noon to 2:00 pm. Everyone is welcome to this free event. Feel free to bring a brown bag lunch or snack and enjoy a social gathering with members and light refreshments while announcements are presented. The orchid presentation will begin around 12:30.
Our September Meeting will be at The Tides Inn on Sept. 19th featuring a new, hands-on Shoreline Program led by Horticulturist, Matt Little and Ecologist, Will Smith.
We want to thank all of our loyal members, new members and the general public who crowded into our Native Plant Sale. You far exceeded our expectations today with enthusiasm and zeal for native plants. Although we started with nearly 1400 plants (more than ever) we have nearly sold out. We do have a very few plants left. We will be at Good Luck tomorrow at 1pm to sell the few remaining plants and handout Guides and literature.
Thank you all so much for your support and enthusiasm for Virginia and Northern Neck Native Plants. We met so many wonderful folks that are truly transforming their properties into conservation sanctuaries and havens for pollinators and wildlife. Together we are all truly making a difference!
And maybe a few of you would like to join our effort and help raise some plants for next year's sale to spread the joy and beauty of native plants far and wide! We will be having a Plant Propagation workshop next spring to help out. Join us!!!
SAVE THE DATE!!!
Member Sale Only
Sept 6th - 2:30 to 4:30
Public Sale
Sept 7th - 12pm to 3pm
Sept 8th - 1pm to 3pm
Our Fall Plant Sale promises to be fantastic. Preliminary tallies of our Virginia native plants (most grown by our own members) indicate that once again we will have over 1300 specimens of at least 130 different species.
This is the Northumberland-Lancaster Spring 2024 Butterfly Count. This is the fifth year for the spring count for the NNK.
Volunteers Needed at the Strawberry Festival in Heathsville, May 25! Next month we have one of our most influential and fun Outreach Events, the Strawberry Festival at St. Stephen’s Church. This is a widely attended and popular event that attracts hundreds of visitors and is loads of fun.
Please join the Northern Neck Chapter of the VNPS for an informal field trip to Hickory Hollow Natural Area Preserve in lieu of our May Meeting on May 16th at 1:00pm. We will meet in the parking lot on Regina Rd, Lancaster; parking is limited so carpooling is recommended.
Our April monthly Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant will be held on Thursday, April 18, at the Lancaster Community Library beginning at noon. The topic is "Protecting Your Shoreline with Native Plants" being presented by Carol Martin, a certified Virginia Master Gardener, and a board member of our NNVNPS Chapter.
Denise Greene, noted landscape designer and former owner of the native plant nursery, Sassafras Farms, will be our speaker at Lancaster Community Library at noon on Thursday, March 21th . She will be sharing her firsthand experience of the different ways we can incorporate native plants into our landscapes.
February Meeting will feature an evening Zoom program by biologist Maeve Coker, “Gardening for Wildlife: A Photographic Journey of my Essex County Habitat”. The meeting will begin at 7 pm with brief welcome and news, the POM report, and Program.
Mark your calendars now for our Annual New Year’s Day walk. Please join us on January 1, New Year’s Day, to see Virginia’s earliest flowering wildflower in bloom – our Skunk Cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus. This is a joint field trip sponsored by our Chapter and the NN Audubon Society and it has been held for many years. We will meet at Hickory Hollow NAP off of Regina Rd in Lancaster at 2:00 pm and have a leisurely 2 hour hike down to Cabin Swamp to see the Skunk Cabbages.
General Annual Meeting, Election of Officers, Presentation of the Budget, Thurs 16th
Program: The Amazing Pollinators Attracted to a Native Plant Garden by Biologist Maeve Coker
A brief meeting at Belle Isle State Park in the Visitor Center Meeting/Education Room followed by a Tour of the new Shoreline and plantings led by Park Manager Katy Sheperd and Carol Martin, part of the Master Gardener’s Shoreline Team. Bring a brown bag lunch and join us at noon before our Tour.
155 Fleet’s Bay Rd
White Stone, VA 22578
Friday, Sept. 15, 2pm-5pm
Saturday, Sept. 16 thru Sept. 24, 9am-5pm
Hours subject to change
Knowledgeable members of the Chapter will be on hand to help select a palette of plants or help with design questions. Chapter volunteers will also offer a variety of help and free educational materials including our revised Guide to Native Plants of the Northern Neck
Saturday, Sept. 16, 9am - noon and Sunday Sept. 24, 10am-1pm
The Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society (NNVNPS) is pleased to invite Chapter members and the public to a presentation at the historic Shiloh School on Thursday, May 18th starting at 12:30. The school and garden are located on Shiloh School Road off Jessie duPont Memorial Highway (Rt. 200) between Wicomico Church and Kilmarnock.
Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society invites Members and their friends to a Spring Walk at Hickory Hollow, Sunday, May 7, 2023 at 1 pm, to learn about Hickory Hollow and its many rare and wonderful plants and spring wildflowers.
Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society invites Members and their friends to a Spring Walk at Hickory Hollow, Sunday, April 30, 2023 at 1 pm, to learn about Hickory Hollow and its many rare and wonderful plants and spring wildflowers.
The Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society (NNVNPS) is delighted to welcome member Pat Lust as our in-person speaker for our, Thursday, April 20th meeting at the Wicomico Parish Church, 5191 Jessie Ball DuPont Memorial Hwy (Route 200) in Wicomico Church. Pat will present an in-depth program on a wide variety of techniques for propagating plants.
On April 6 from 9:00 am to noon a joint VNPS and NN Master Naturalist project have a garden work day.
On March 28 from 9:00 am to noon a joint VNPS and NN Master Naturalist project have a garden work day.
Zoom Presentation “Rewilding our Landscapes”
Our March meeting of the Northern Neck Chapter of VNPS will be a Zoom presentation on Thursday, March 16th at 7 pm. Email nnvnps@gmail.com for zoom information.
Join Virginia Landscape Designer, Susan Abraham, for a presentation on using our beautiful native plants to restore landscapes ranging from small suburban gardens to large meadows and farms. Susan writes that “Our lands and waters are suffering from a host of environmental challenges. Re-wilding strategies and techniques lay the foundation for landscapes to heal, grow and thrive”.
General Meeting 12:00 pm, Lawn Weeds & Native Alternatives for Lawns, Member Paula Boundy, at Lancaster Public Library, Board meeting 10:00am
New Year’s Day is the perfect day to get outside and start the New Year off naturally and focused on plants. A number of years ago our Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society started a New Year’s Day Walk at Hickory Hollow Natural Area Preserve but the scourge of Covid forced that to be canceled for the past few years. But alas, the Walk has been reinstated this new year for Sunday, Jan. 1 at 1 pm with the co-sponsorship of the NN Audubon. The temperature is predicted to be in the fifties.
The Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society is delighted to be presenting a Zoom program entitled The Least Welcome Plants of the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain on Thursday, November 17th at 1:00 pm. Invasive plants that have been introduced to our area are far and away, our least favorite plants. From the less-than-Heavenly Tree of Heaven to more recent invaders like Purple Fountain Grass, Ecologist Dr. Sylvan Kaufman will introduce you to the many problems caused by invasive plants of our coastal plain environments and why these plants are so wildly successful. She will also address some of the best management practices to manage and eliminate these invasive plants. This program is free and accessible by computer or smart phone.
Join member Carolyn Quinn for a tour of Dug In Farms and enjoy refreshments from the farm and the company of fellow members and native plant lovers.
All programs are free and open to the public
A brief business meeting will precede the tour.
The annual Northern Neck Native Plant Society Native Plant Sale will again be held at Dug In Farm on Fleets Bay Rd, off Rt. 3 in White Stone.
The Chapter’s native plants will be available for purchase from 9 am Saturday, Sept. 17 through Saturday, September 24. On Saturday’s during the sale, knowledgeable Chapter members will be available to assist from 9 am until 1 pm.
All members and guests are invited to the first live presentation by NNVNPS in two years!
This open to all meeting on Thursday, April 21st, begins at noon in Kilmarnock’s Lancaster Community Library meeting room (second floor).
Old Court House Garden Cleanup. March 29, 10am, Old Court House Garden, Heathsville. Watch for more details from Bonita Russell.
