CANCELLED
Free and open to the Public - the March meeting of the Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society (NNNPS) will be Thursday, March 19th at noon at the Wicomico Parish Church located at 5191 Jesse Ball Dupont Hwy. (Route 200) in Wicomico Church.
This month’s speaker will be Susan Lindsey, a United Kingdom transplant to the Northern Neck, former teacher and world traveler. Since landing in the Northern Neck in 1997, Ms. Lindsey has immersed herself in the Northern Neck Master Gardeners program where she has held several leadership roles, founded an after-school education program and an associated garden at Lancaster Primary School, developed and presented educational programs for waterfront property owners among other horticultural endeavors. In 2007 she received the Garden Club of Virginia's Horticulture Award of Merit and in 2014, the Northumberland Association for Progressive Stewardship (NAPS) awarded her their annual Distinguished Citizen's Award for activities in conservation and education.
Ms. Lindsey’s program is entitled “The Romance that Soured: Chemicals in the American Garden” which traces the changes throughout the twentieth century in the philosophies, technologies and cultural attitudes that affect the way we garden. The practices of agriculture and gardening in the first half of the century were overturned by the introduction of chemicals developed for mid-century wartime needs. In 1962, biologist and author Rachel Carson sounded the chemical alarm with the book “Silent Spring”, and now 58 years later, entomologist Doug Tallamy of the University of Delaware, calls for a new revolution in our approach to chemicals, sustainability and the future of our planet in his just published book “Nature’s Best Hope” (2020). Dr. Tallamy’s revolutionary 2007 book, “Bringing Nature Home”, changed our view of the role of gardens and native plants and the connection between native plants and insects and how they are the base of our entire food web. “As our native plants disappear, so do the co-evolved insects resulting in a depleted food source for birds and other animals. Our insect populations have dropped precipitously.”, said Kevin Howe, Past President of the Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society.
The program will also feature the Chapter’s Conservation and Horticulture Chair Betsy Washington’s introduction to the March Plant of the Month, the Northern Spicebush, Lindera benzoin. “The Spicebush is a fabulous plant that lights up woodland edges with its very early spring blooms which provides nectar to some of our earliest spring butterflies and their showy red berries in the fall provide much needed food for migrating songbirds”, said Ms. Washington.
The Chapter invites the public to attend and feel free to bring a brown bag lunch; some snacks and beverages will be available. We will have a social lunch and announcements for a short while before our featured presentation
The Northern Neck Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society is one of 11 chapters in the state. It is a volunteer non-profit dedicated to the protection and preservation of the native plants of Virginia and their habitats, in order to sustain for generations to come the integrity of the Commonwealth’s rich natural heritage of ecosystems and biodiversity for purposes of enjoyment, enlightenment, sustainable use, and our own very survival.