Free and open to the Public - the March meeting of the Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society will be Thursday, March 21st at noon at the Wicomico Parish (Episcopal) Church, in Wicomico Church.  

The Chapter will have a presentation by biologist, botanist and educator, Betsy Washington, a Board member of the Chapter. “Betsy taught for 16 years at George Washington University in their Landscape Design and graduate Sustainable Design program”, said Ted Munns, President of the Chapter.  “Now retired to the Northern Neck, she has been a valuable addition to our Chapter’s botanical endeavors and her program will be of interest for all gardeners and nature lovers alike”. 

Betsy started her career as a fish biologist but later switched the biological focus to plants and headed the Plant program in the GWU Landscape Design Program. Her garden designs, which strongly focus on native plants and their ecological relations, have won a number of awards. 

The presentations also include the always popular Plant of the Month which for March is Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis.

We invite the public to attend and feel free to bring a brown bag lunch; some snacks and beverages will be available. We have a 20 to 30 minute social lunch before our featured program begins.  All programs of the Chapter are free and open to the public. As springtime blooms in the Northern Neck, keep an eye out for our field trips to the blooming spring plant communities and gardens in the region including a beautiful colony of Bloodroot.

Following the program, we will take a short 3 mile drive to private property to check out some vernal pools and plant life.

Betsy Washington during a fall meadow workshop at Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge  (photo by Kevin Howe)