Winter fades into spring, the sunshine hits a little warmer, pollinators begin to appear bouncing among the earliest blooms and the mid-story of Virginia’s forests glow with flashes of yellow as Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin), affectionately known as “Forsythia of the woods” bursts into bloom. This Capital Region native, is an exciting spring bloomer, but it also has tremendous value for gardeners, wildlife, history, and even foragers of today.
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With nondescript leaves that fade into the background during the vibrant garden show of summer and fall, our March Plant of the Month showboats in the spring, and you won’t want to miss its blooms! Woodland Phlox Phlox divarcata ‘Blue Moon’ is native to Virginia, it’s even found historically in the Capital Region, and can be seen growing along the forest floor from the mountains to the piedmont. This very adaptable plant can grow to form a dense ground cover,
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Today we are going to give some attention to one of the hard-to-miss species along the Low Line – Aromatic Aster Symphyotrichum oblongifolium. If you have visited the Low Line Gardens in the fall, we’re sure you’ve seen its showy purple flowers and bushy growth extending down the Virginia Capital Trail. Despite the somewhat misleading name, “Aromatic Aster”, the vibrant blooms aren’t particularly fragrant. Catching a “wiff” of these plants requires crushing the foliage or flower heads which will yield a balsam-like smell.
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We’re kicking off 2022 by featuring one of our favorite landscaping plants, the Red Twig Dogwood Cornus sericea which you can find in many of the beds at the Low Line. You may be more familiar with its relative the flowering dogwood Cornus florida, Virginia’s much loved state tree AND state flower. Conversely, with very small white blooms, the shining feature of red twig dogwood is,
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Our final plant of the month for 2021 is Hairy Alumroot Heuchera villosa var. macrorhiza ‘Autumn Bride’. You’ll be able to see where it got its “hairy” name when you closely inspect its leaves – which are fuzzy with a velvet-like texture.
This plant is native to the state of Virginia and is more likely to be found naturally in the western or mountainous parts of the state.
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November’s plant of the month is the London Plane Tree Platanus x acerifolia (Previously Platanus x hispanica).
The origins of this tree aren’t entirely known. It’s suspected that it is a cross between a native American Sycamore Tree and a non-native Oriental plane tree. Though, in appearance, it looks most like a sycamore. It is marked by a darker exterior bark that sloughs off in pieces to reveal lighter colored inner bark.
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Our October plant of the month is Little Bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium. It’s an ornamental bunch grass that forms dense mounds that grow to 18-24 inches tall when established. It’s native to Virginia, does well in sun or part shade, and can assist in erosion control.
You can learn a lot about this plant from the name itself. The “Bluestem” in Little Bluestem references the lavender-blue color that can be seen at the base of the stems when the grass first starts shooting up in the spring.
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Our September Plant of the Month is American Hop Hornbeam Ostrya virginiana.
This tree is native to Virginia and also known as Eastern Hop hornbeam, Ironwood, and Leverwood.
This low maintenance deciduous tree isn’t fussy so it doesn’t require a lot of attention. We’re talking drought-tolerant (once established), able to grow in clay soils, and even somewhat resistant to deer.
Interestingly, it puts off both male and female catkins.
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Our plant of the month for August is Swamp Rose Mallow Hibiscus moscheutos. It’s a little bit different than the other plants we’ve featured so far because it volunteered at the Low Line. That means we didn’t go to a nursery and plant it on purpose, it just popped up. That doesn’t make it any less valuable to the space though, it’s native to Virginia and brings a lot to the table so we have embraced it as part of the landscape.
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Summer is flying by and if you need some help slowing it down – stop and smell the Wild Bergamot Monarda fistulosa, our July plant of the month!
This plant is a member of the mint family, and is part of the genus “Monarda” – which includes the ever popular bee balms. The unique looking blooms are typically light violet in color and not only are they eye-catching but they’re fragrant too!
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