Virginia bluebells are considered among the more secure of Virginia's wildflowers because they reseed freely, according to the Virginia Native Plant Society.
The term “native” describes a plant’s place of origin as well as its iterative adaptation to an ecosystem. “It implies that a plant evolved naturally in response to a specific set of local conditions, in concert with the wildlife that co-evolved with them,” explains botanist, naturalist and lecturer Catharine Tucker, vice president of the Virginia Native Plant Society and herself a Virginia native.
Generation after generation, native plants and wildlife have developed together in symbiotic relationships. They are bound to a place and each other, knit together by need. Native birds feast on local berries, dispersing the seeds in their droppings that will grow to beget more berries. Flowers are pollinated by the flies that feed on their nectar, themselves becoming food for hungry native birds. The larvae of Eastern tiger swallowtail butterflies consume tulip poplar leaves, growing into the fat caterpillars that local flycatchers, robins and grosbeaks prefer. They are all members of an intricate ecosystem that thrives in local growing conditions, supporting each other in living economies of supply and demand.
“Virginia natives are not confined to Virginia,” Tucker points out. A plant can be native to another region as well. “But every plant is native someplace.”
Virginia’s environment, with its distinctive growing conditions, influences the plants and wildlife that thrive here. “Richmond lies at the edge of two physiographic provinces: Piedmont and Coastal Plain,” Tucker explains, “which accounts for the large variety of topography, soil types, light and hydrology that we have here. Those local variations combine to create microhabitats.”
The textures, forms and colors of Virginia’s landscape are the artistry of her native plants — a spray of white dogwood blossoms here, the shock of a red cardinal flower there. “They grow here as a result of the history of the land and the history of the plants and other living species, which have developed in tandem,” says Tucker. They are the hallmarks of the place that created them.
Native plants typically require less pesticide than alien species because they have evolved to resist local insects and native diseases. As products of natural selection, they also require less fertilizer when grown in their native habitat. And they tend to be more drought-tolerant, with deep root systems that help reduce soil erosion. It all translates into a low-cost, low-maintenance garden that supports regional wildlife by providing food and habitat with minimal negative impact on the environment.
Virginia native witch hazel blooms in autumn. (Photo by Thinkstock)
If you’d like to grow native, resist the temptation to transplant wild specimens into your home landscape, thereby disrupting nature’s delicate equilibrium. Instead, buy more vigorous, nursery-propagated natives from specialty growers. (See a list of suppliers at vnps.org.)
Since 1989, the Virginia Native Plant Society has named its pick for native Wildflower of the Year. Here’s a partial list to consider if you’re compelled to grow native:
2018: Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
2014: Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)
2013: Redbud (Cercis canadensis)
2000: Flame Azalea (Rhododendron calendulaceum)
1998: Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
1996: Large-Flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
1994: Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)
1992: Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
1991: Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
1989: Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
