ASNV and Plant NOVA Natives Award Ten Mini-Grants for Invasive Removal

Photo: Porcelain-berry, Olivier Vanpé via Wikimedia commons

Margaret Fisher (Plant NOVA Natives), Betsy Martin and Barbara Tuset (Audubon at Home)

This year, the Fairfax County Tree Preservation and Planting Fund (TPPF) gave Audubon at Home and Plant NOVA Natives a grant to fund mini-grants for invasive plant removal on community association or faith community common open space. In October we awarded mini-grants to 10 home owner associations (HOAs) and faith communities.

Each community will receive $3,000 on a reimbursement basis which it can use to pay for removal of invasive plants that are a threat to trees in landscaped or natural areas. The TPPF mini-grant requires a match of $1,500, which can be fulfilled either with money or volunteer labor. We encourage the use of volunteers, so that residents can gain first-hand experience of the difficulties posed by invasive plants and a sense of the value of paying people to do the work in the future. We also encouraged communities to engage their current landscaping companies in the work so as to increase the number of companies in our region that can offer invasive control services, especially of the invasive vines that threaten native trees.

Porcelain-berry, Olivier Vanpé via Wikimedia commons

We restricted mini-grants to projects focused on removal of the invasive vines and trees that most threaten native trees in Northern Virginia, namely Japanese Honeysuckle, Asian Wisteria, Asiatic Bittersweet, Wintercreeper, English Ivy, Multiflora Rose, Porcelain-berry, Kudzu, Callery Pear, Tree of Heaven, and Autumn Olive. These eleven vine and tree species overrun natural areas and overtop trees, killing and displacing native trees and plants, creating food deserts for wildlife and destroying their habitat, and creating hazards for humans. You can learn more about the threat posed by these plants, and how to control them, from the excellent fact sheets published by Blue Ridge PRISM. Mini-grant recipients will be required to educate their members about the problems caused by invasive plants and about native alternatives that residents could install on their own properties. Communities will display a sign that we will provide: “Invasive plant control area. Please don’t plant the non-native species that damage our ecosystem.” The sign will include a QR code linking to an information page on invasive plant control.

This project dovetails with the Plant NOVA Trees campaign in which volunteers count trees at risk from invasive vines and drop off literature for homeowners to warn them of the problem. This Tree Rescuer program has already increased awareness and led community associations to start looking for ways to save their trees.

A $3,000 mini-grant, when matched by a community with $1,500 in funds or volunteer labor, is sufficient to make a noticeable improvement in both the habitat value and appearance of a common area that has been overrun by invasive plants. Several companies specialize in invasive plant removal in Northern Virginia, should the job call for that level of experience and expertise. In common areas where a lower level of expertise will suffice, such as those that simply need cut stump treatment of invasive vines on trees or uprooting of easily identified plants such as Multiflora Rose, communities can handle it with a combination of volunteer labor to do the cutting or pulling and a certified pesticide applicator to apply the herbicide. Those communities will need to train the workers, whether paid or unpaid, in control techniques as well as in identification of the plants and how to distinguish them from native look-alikes.

Applicants were required to request pre-visits from Audubon at Home Ambassadors and Plant NOVA Natives volunteers who walked the property with the applicant, identified which invasives were present, and advised on developing a plan and method of control. The board of the HOA or faith community also had to approve the application.

We received 22 applications, most of them deserving of funding. We could fund only 10 of them and made the selections by weighing several criteria, including the efficacy of the plan, the degree of infestation and the habitat value of the area in question, the visibility of the property and potential to serve as a model to members and passersby, and any proximity to a disadvantaged neighborhood. 

We thank all of the applicants for the hard work they put into applying. We are very happy to learn that this grant opportunity has prompted even some of those who did not win mini-grants to start working on a long-term plan for invasive plant control in their common areas. We also encourage them (and you) to go through the process of certifying their properties as Audubon-at-Home Wildlife Sanctuaries, which requires, among other things, that the residents spot at least 10 out of a list of 41 species of wildlife using the property.

We congratulate the mini-grant winners:

Antioch Baptist Church (Fairfax Station), Chesterfield Mews Community Association (Fairfax), Crest of Alexandria Homeowners’ Association (Fairfax), Fox Lake Property Owners Association (Oakton), Lakeford Community Association (Falls Church), Little River United Church of Christ (Annandale), McLean Greens HOA (Falls Church), Poplar Heights Recreation Association (Falls Church), Ridge Road Estates HOA (Springfield), The Timbers HOA (Springfield).

Fall cleanup in two easy steps

Photo: Fall color, Margaret Fisher

Margaret Fisher

Here is an executive summary of eco-friendly yard maintenance recommendations for fall:

1. Watch the pretty leaves flutter down from above.

2. Do as little as possible to disturb those leaves or the flower stalks.

Fall color, Margaret Fisher

In the days when gardening meant growing food for the table, cleaning out plant debris before winter was a routine practice to reduce the spread of diseases that affect vegetables. That routine carried over when suburbanites switched their yards to ornamental plants and turf grass, with the unfortunate consequence that we deprived our non-human neighbors of the shelter and food they need to survive. The tide is turning, though, as people are realizing that attractive gardens that support the ecosystem do better when their caretakers go easy on the autumn chores.

Some birds and nocturnal mammals are able to dig for grubs in a lawn, but you may have noticed that most friendly critters such as box turtles, frogs, and katydids do not spend a lot of time frolicking on your turf grass. It would leave them much too exposed, not to mention starving. Layers of leaves from native trees and shrubs, by contrast, provide a smorgasbord for them. Some of their meals consist of the caterpillars and other insects that feed on the leaves of native trees in spring and summer until they float down to the ground in the fall. Those that escape predation turn into adults the next spring and start the cycle over. Other insects such as fireflies spend their entire lives in the leaf litter, coming out briefly to find mates. All this assumes that their homes are not chopped up or raked up to be sent off to mulch factories.

Similarly, dead stalks provide shelter for many little critters, including certain species of native bees that burrow into the ends of broken stalks to lay their eggs. Plants left intact enliven our yards all winter with their interesting seed heads and waving stems, made even more lively as the songbirds perch on the stalks and scrabble in the leaves for the seeds of flowers and grasses.

As the plants emerge again in the spring, they have no trouble pushing past the dead leaves, which act as a natural mulch until they gradually decompose and feed the soil. Many of the dead flower stalks will have fallen down by spring, and those remaining are quickly hidden from sight by the growing plants. If those plants are native to our ecosystem, they continue to provide benefits the rest of the year by nourishing the caterpillars and providing nectar and pollen for the pollinators. Some of the thicker leaves such as oaks may smother turf grass under the trees, but that is just as well, since mowing around trees risks injuries to their bark, and walking under them compacts the soil and stresses the roots. Trees do best when their leaves are left in place out to the drip line. Mulching fallen leaves with the mower blade is better than sending them off in a truck or dumping smothering piles in the woods, but it may chop up the insect larvae and eggs.

Simple adjustments such as these to our landscaping practices will greatly improve the prospects of our local ecosystem. Other important steps to take include adding native plants, removing invasive non-native plants, minimizing the use of outdoor lighting, and eliminating mosquito spraying with its lethal consequences to the living world. Learn more on the Plant NOVA Natives website.

After a Long Hot Summer, It’s Time to Plant Trees!

Photo: Sweetgum Tree, Nancy Vehrs

Cindy Speas, Chair, Fairfax County Tree Commission

Preserving trees and planting new native trees are major goals of the Plant NOVA Trees campaign. In April I wrote about how to plan for spring and fall tree planting seasons, in the summer about the dangers of non-native trees, and last month about celebrating October as Native Tree Month in Virginia. You likely already realize I’m going to write now about planting trees.

Autumn is a perfect time for trees to go in the ground. Instead of facing a long, hot summer, trees have time to get acclimated to their new space, and then they cheerfully spend the winter in a dormant state. Those who plant in the fall not only find the temperatures invigorating for physical labor, but can also look forward to budding and blooming in the spring, when the days get longer. It’s a win-win!

Sweetgum Tree, Nancy Vehrs

Christina Hester recently described in Casey Trees’ blog “The Leaflet” all the reasons newly planted trees do so well in cooler temperatures. In Fall is for Planting, she says cool weather means less stress on the trees and higher rates of survival. There’s more water available for their roots, because water evaporates more quickly when it’s hot. Cooler air also reduces the threat of damage from pests or disease. Of course, there’s the same chance of rain or drought as in spring and summer, so in all seasons, newly installed trees need watering to thrive. Details on the watering schedule, which depends on the size of the tree, can be found on the Plant Nova Trees website. In the fall, other deciduous trees in your yard can provide lovely, free mulch when they shed their leaves. All the newly planted seedlings or young trees can benefit from the soil around them being enhanced with leaves. If you use leaves for mulch, just remember to leave space around the tree trunk to reduce damage to the young sapling’s sensitive outer bark. 

Planting new, native trees is essential for our urban forest. Trees can be lost to development, disease, or invasive vines. Our urban forest needs other healthy trees of all sizes and ages coming along behind to take the place of dead or dying trees. Maintaining and preserving the saplings planted each season serves the goal of developing healthier ecosystems and a healthier planet.

Perhaps this autumn you might ask a child to help you—because every child that plants a tree is a part of that tree’s history, and the tree will surely find a place in that child’s heart. Searching for the right place to dig, gently spreading out a sapling’s roots in the ground, patting down the warm soil, smelling the earth after the first watering—this experience can turn a child into a plant and planet lover for life. And what we love can also become a part of an ethical journey towards caring for the whole earth that supports that one tree. 

Autumn is not just a great time to plant trees, but also to reflect on the bigger picture. Doug Tallamy, famous for his research on oak trees, has started a Homegrown National Park project. The effort “has no political, religious, cultural or geographic boundaries because everyone—every human being on this planet—needs diverse, highly productive ecosystems to survive.” And, I might add, also to thrive. Tallamy says planting native trees and plants in our own backyards will increase the biodiversity of North America, one plant at a time. Such a grand ecological vision can take root in the one act of a child helping you to plant a tree. 

Biodiversity Starts at Home: Plant Native Plants!

Photo: Landscape with native plants, Margaret Fisher

Margaret Fisher

Landscape with native plants, Margaret Fisher

Fall is for planting. When choosing what to plant, why not factor in the ecosystem while you are at it? Preserving biodiversity may sound like a job for scientists, but in fact the implementation is up to all of us. It is the decisions we make on a daily basis that determine how well our local ecosystem will weather the numerous stressors that come with climate change. We get to see this in action as we choose which plants to install on our properties.

Why should we care about biodiversity, a term that seems so remote to our own lives? Perhaps a better word would be “bio-resilience” or even “bio-survival,” to highlight the importance of genetic diversity in a changing world. In our yards, for example, planting a whole range of species means that whether they are hit by drought, deluge, or the next plague, at least some of them will make it. Better still is to use plants that themselves have genetic diversity, as opposed to ones that are produced by cloning, which is the case for most cultivars. 

None of this has much meaning to the planet unless those plants are also native to the area and thus support the myriad critters that depend on them for food. Losing an entire hedge to boxwood blight or a row of crape myrtles to crape myrtle bark scale may be sad for us but makes no difference to the ecosystem. Replacing them with a mixed hedge of native trees and shrubs would provide insurance against stressors while supporting our birds and butterflies. Those critters very much need our support, because they are under threat from the non-native plants that have escaped from our gardens into the natural areas and are turning our parks into monocultures of tree-killing invasives. Finding appropriate substitutes for invasive plants is not a problem - the Native Plants for Northern Virginia guide lists 263 garden-worthy species

Professional landscapers all know that autumn is a great time to plant, even if home gardeners make the mistake of waiting until April to flock to the garden centers. Planting can even continue until the ground is frozen. Many plants, including trees and shrubs, continue to grow their roots after their leaves fall off, and even those that go dormant have a major head start in the spring before they have to face summer heat and drought. The wise gardeners who take advantage of the fall discounts are rewarded by lighter watering chores and healthier plants. In Northern Virginia, you can find native plants either by looking for the red stickers in participating conventional garden centers or by shopping at the native plant nurseries or at the local fall native plant sales.

Tree-of-Heaven is not heavenly!

Photo: Tree of Heaven, Margaret Fisher

Cindy Speas, Chair
Fairfax County Tree Commission

In summer many folks travel to the Shenandoah Valley and beyond for recreational opportunities. Driving in any direction from northern Virginia in the growing season, you will see an attractive-looking tree everywhere along the highways and byways. The dramatic clusters of seeds are so large they look like giant flowers among the leaves. It’s not native walnut or native sumac—it is Ailanthus altissima, commonly called Tree-of-Heaven. Disturbed areas and rights-of-way along roads are perfect locations for this opportunistic pest to colonize. Ailanthus is popping up in suburbia as well, and even tree-loving experts are calling for us to remove these attractive and fast-growing specimens from our properties as soon as possible.

Tree of Heaven with Spotted Lanternfly inset, Margaret Fisher

Ailanthus was imported from China and widely distributed in the United States as an ornamental in the late 1700s and 1800s. Its behavior, though, is far from heavenly—it spreads aggressively through root sprouting and huge seed production; it grows to maturity rapidly with a very long taproot; it is characterized by its terrible odor; and it poisons the ground around its roots with chemicals, in a process called allelopathy. This prevents native trees and plants from growing nearby, allowing Ailanthus to spread quickly and dominate our landscape. 

Even worse, Ailanthus is the preferred food source for a new invasive insect—the Spotted Lanternfly (SLF). In spite of state quarantines, this destructive pest has been found in Fairfax County. It is a major threat to some of Virginia’s agricultural areas, especially our vineyards, peach orchards, and hops fields. It also is a threat to native tree species like oaks and maples that thrive in our yards. Forest Pest Branch asks all residents to report Ailanthus following the instructions in this brochure and report Spotted Lanternfly sightings here. 

Some may still ask why these non-native trees should be removed—don’t they at least provide shade and shelter in a warming world? They certainly can, but they crowd out our native oaks, beeches, hickories and maples, as well as fail to provide the critical food resources that native insects and other animals need to live and reproduce in a fully functioning, healthy ecosystem. If a plant like this is killing off or threatening major parts of our local natural food web, the entire system will eventually collapse. And we will lose our native tree canopy along the way.

How can we stop the spread of this nasty invasive? First, of course, do not purchase it! So be sure to learn how to identify it. You can become familiar with the iNaturalist app on your smartphone or use other online resources to name the plant. When in doubt, try crushing a leaf and smelling it: the odor is similar to rancid peanut butter. Second, remove the tree if it is growing on your land. This pest, however, thrives when simply cut down, so you will have to kill the root system right away. There are some very useful resources to help landowners eliminate this threat safely and efficiently. Blue Ridge Prism has excellent fact sheets with details about herbicide use for this and other invasive species. 

Visit Plant Nova Natives for more information about invasives and their destructive roles in our native environment. It would be truly heavenly if we could eliminate a threat like the Tree-of-Heaven.

The corporate world embraces native plants

Photo: Corporate landscaping with native plants, Margaret Fisher

Margaret Fisher

Most corporate properties have pretty “standard” landscaping, meaning the plants do very little if anything to support the local ecosystem. More and more, though, we are seeing innovative landscape designs on commercial properties that demonstrate the potential for corporations to be leaders in the effort to save the natural world, starting on their own land. While they are at it, they are creating beautiful and welcoming spaces for their clients and employees. 

One example of this approach is the work done at the recently-opened Kaiser Permanente medical centers in Springfield and Woodbridge (Caton Hill). Both properties are richly landscaped with trees, shrubs, grasses and perennials that are almost entirely native to Northern Virginia. The few exceptions are non-invasive. 

Native plants at Kaiser Permanente. Photo: Margaret Fisher

Alton Millwood, Director of Planning, Design and Construction at Kaiser Permanente Mid-Atlantic, described the thinking behind the design:

The landscape design at Caton Hill Medical Center focused on allowing the natural environment to be a part of the community’s wellness plan. There is an abundance of research showing that exposure to nature can lower . . . [the] heart rate, alleviate mental distress, speed recovery rates, and even alleviate symptoms of mental disorders. This is why Kaiser Permanente felt it was important to keep natural woodland areas on the project site and invite people into those . . . [spaces] with trails and areas to sit and relax. Additionally, the native plants used on the site help to create a healthier environment by providing food and habitat for birds and other wildlife, conserving water, and reducing noise and pollution associated with mowing. It only made sense that if we were going to involve the natural environment for our own health that we would do what we could to improve the health of the environment.

Another goal of the project was to help the region meet its stormwater goals in order to protect the local streams and the Chesapeake Bay. The planting beds and the meadow roof decrease the amount of runoff from impervious surfaces. Design considerations included using a variety of native plant species to provide four-season interest, using low-maintenance plants that will not require long-term watering, and choosing species that will grow to the appropriate size for their locations so that important sight lines remain open and safe.

The reaction of employees and patients alike has been extremely positive. Millwood reports, “Many members and staff have taken advantage of the outside seating, walked through the Gardens and Health Park to immerse themselves in nature and its healing benefits, and observed the rooftop meadow flowers in full bloom, with birds and pollinators busy in their tasks.”

Asked what would be his advice to other corporations, Millwood replied, “Using sustainable design practices such as planting native plants is good for people and the environment – it is a win-win. For corporations, sustainable design can impact their bottom line, too. Native plants are more likely to live long and thrive in our environment. They require less maintenance, less fertilizer and pesticides, and less water. All this adds up to savings for the owner. Hiring . . . like-minded design professionals can help you create places like Caton Hill Medical Center that help benefit our community and the local ecosystem.”

More photos of this and other corporate or small business landscaping projects can be found on the Commercial Landscaping page on the Plant NOVA Natives website.

Inviting Fireflies to Your Yard

Photo: Firefly, Margaret Fisher

Margaret Fisher

When fireflies start their early summer dance, will they pick your yard for their display? Like most insects (and like most vertebrate species except humans and farmed animals), firefly numbers are in a steep decline, but there are steps we can take to foster them on our properties. Taking those steps has far-reaching benefits even beyond the joy of having our own private light shows. What we do to create habitat for fireflies can go a long way toward restoring life to our yards in general.

Firefly, Margaret Fisher

The first step in creating usable habitat is to plant (and preserve) native plants and trees and to remove invasive non-native plants. This is because most plant-eating insects can only eat the plants with which they evolved. Fireflies don’t eat plants, though, so how does this apply? The answer lies in the food web concept. Predatory insects such as fireflies, dragonflies, ladybeetles, and others eat the critters that eat the native plants. Sources of native plants for your landscape can be found on the Plant NOVA Natives website.

The next step is to provide shelter and breeding sites. This translates into leaving the dead leaves in place and devoting as much of your yard as you can to natural landscaping. Dead leaves not only are home to many tiny critters, including butterfly larvae, but they also are a welcome addition to landscaped areas, because they protect and nourish the soil. Perennials poke right up between them in the spring.

The third step may seem less intuitive but is understandable once you think about it: reducing outdoor lighting. If fireflies can’t see potential mates blinking, they won’t be able to get together. Light pollution has negative impacts on many other beings as well. Moths exhaust themselves circling around lights. Migrating birds have trouble navigating. We can help by using warm-spectrum LED lights bulbs 3,000 K or less (which don’t attract moths) and by installing motion-detectors, assuming any outdoor lighting is needed at all. Lighting up our properties at night is as rude to our non-human neighbors as playing loud music outdoors is to our human ones, only with more lethal consequences.

The final step is the simplest of all to implement: do not use insecticides outdoors unless there is a dire need, such as a hornet’s nest over the front door. There are many better ways to deal with mosquitoes and ticks. What most people don’t realize is that insecticides (such as sprays for adult mosquitoes) kill all insects, including fireflies, bees, butterflies, crickets, and others, and totally upset the natural balance between predators and prey that is necessary for a healthy garden and ecosystem. Outdoor chemicals in general have many unfortunate consequences for the environment, but the indiscriminate use of insecticides is the most immediately destructive.

Because what is good for them is good for the other inhabitants of our properties, fireflies are the symbol chosen for the Homegrown National Park movement led by famous entomologist Doug Tallamy. His concept is that if we all give sanctuary to fireflies, butterflies, and birds in our yards, it will add up to far more habitat than even the largest of our national parks. If you have been planting native plants, you can add your property to the map and demonstrate your care for the planet, starting right at home: https://www.homegrownnationalpark.org/.

Front Yard Landscaping, Reimagined

Photo: Reimagined front yard, Margaret Fisher

Margaret Fisher

Originality has not been what springs to mind when looking at most front yards, but now people are starting to tweak the conventions by putting native plants front and center on their properties. There are around two hundred species of native plants that are eminently suitable for the formal or semiformal areas of our homes or businesses. In those cases, there is no need to confine them to our back yards. They add curb appeal to any property while simultaneously supporting the songbirds, butterflies, and other critters that so desperately need our help to survive in a suburban or urban environment.

For anyone who prefers to keep their shrubs and flowers up against the house, there are plenty of neat-and-tidy native plants that do well in that setting. Recommendations can be found on the foundation plantings page on the Plant NOVA Natives website.

For those interested in rethinking the layout of their yard, there are many ways to do that.

Reimagined Front Yard, Margaret Fisher

• Pictured here is a front yard in which half the space has been filled with native plants (as opposed to turf grass, which is non-native and therefore does not support our local fauna). The small number of species planted in large masses makes a strong impact while minimizing the expertise needed for maintenance. The tree has been protected from soil compaction and lawn mower damage, both of which are a risk to trees surrounded by turf grass.

• A planting bed along the sidewalk would have the advantage of capturing stormwater runoff before it hits the street. Runoff from impervious surfaces and lawns causes degradation of our streams and the Chesapeake Bay. Taller plants along the sidewalk also can make the front yard another area where you can sit or play in privacy.

• Mowing around a curved planting bed in the middle of the yard is easy. The bed could consist of flowers for those who like to garden or a small grove of native trees and shrubs for those who don’t.

• The entire yard could be replaced by native plants along curved paths. The easiest design would consist of trees, shrubs, and groundcovers. Losing the lawn is seldom a problem, since most people don’t run around on their front lawn anyway.

• At the other end of the effort spectrum, planting a single native shade tree in the lawn would confer the most benefit for the least amount of work.

Famous American ecologist E. O. Wilson urged us to set aside half of the Earth’s surface for nature, thus enabling us to preserve biodiversity and avert mass extinction (including our own extinction). That goal cannot be achieved by setting aside deserts and mountaintops and keeping the rich lands for ourselves. The set-aside land must include areas, such as our East Coast, that support the most biodiversity. Most of that land is privately owned, so it is up to each of us to contribute anything we can. Considering how much of our suburban/urban land is covered with built structures, any piece of land that isn’t occupied by a building or road would best be devoted to native trees and other native plants. Instead of adding to habitat loss, our front yards can be part of the solution while beautifying our properties and increasing home values. For details on designing a landscape using native plants, see the Plant NOVA Natives website.

Shopping for the birds

Photo: Native plant tag, Margaret Fisher

Margaret Fisher

With a little planning, our plant choices can make the difference between a community that supports the birds and butterflies and a community that completely displaces them. The key is to pick native plants, the ones that evolved right here with those critters and provide them the food they need to survive. Native trees and shrubs are especially important, but even the tiniest plants play an important role in the ecosystem.

Native plant tag, Margaret Fisher

How do you tell if a plant is native to our area? A simple way is to look for the red “Northern Virginia Native” stickers at participating nurseries. Over fifty volunteers from the Plant NOVA Natives campaign have been labeling the natives in those garden centers. The trees get hang tags, and the other plants get red stickers. You won’t find the stickers in the annuals sections, though, since those plants are purely ornamental and not locally native. Since turnover is rapid this time of year, making it hard for volunteers to keep up with the labeling, you might want to take along a copy of the Native Plants for Northern Virginia guide, or use the online pdf or search app.

Any even simpler way to guarantee that a plant is native is to buy it from someone who only sells native plants. There are four garden centers in Northern Virginia that do just that. In addition, periodic native plant sale events are held around the region in the spring and the fall.

Spring planting for many people consists primarily of filling pots with colorful flowers. The absence of annuals might seem like a problem until you learn that native plants make excellent container specimens as well, with the added advantage that they only need to be planted once, since they will overwinter in the pot and provide the fun of watching their tender leaves emerge in the spring. Visits to the blooms from butterflies and hummingbirds add even more enjoyment. The Plant NOVA Natives website has plant suggestions for container gardening, but almost any native can be used for this purpose if the container is big enough.

Landscapers’ Conference in Spanish

Photo: February 2023 Landscapers’ Conference, Wendy Cohen

Wendy Cohen

One hundred and thirty-five landscape professionals attended a conference on sustainable landscaping on February 15 on the Annandale campus of Northern Virginia Community College. Although Plant NOVA Natives, in partnership with ASNV, has held other sustainable landscaping conferences for professionals, this one was special: it was held completely in Spanish and targeted Spanish-speaking landscapers. Funding came from individual donations and grants from Transurban and the Virginia Department of Forestry.

February 2023 Landscapers’ Conference, Wendy Cohen

Participants learned from experts in the field about the importance of native plants, identification of invasive plants and the Spotted Lanternfly, the vital work of invasives removal, and best practices in planting and pruning techniques. Speakers included the owner of a sustainable landscape design business, the director of the Fairfax County Parks Invasive Management program, the commercial horticulturist for Loudoun County’s Cooperative Extension program, and a sustainable landscaper.

The audience was completely engaged and participated actively in the question-and-answer sessions. Participants were given handouts in Spanish, including an invasive plant identification guide, the Fairfax County Tree Basics booklet, and lists of online resources. Hip City Veg provided a vegan lunch, and several event organizers provided home-baked vegan cookies. The conference was a “low-waste” event, using only non-disposable cups and plates and recycling and composting lunch and breakfast items.

The great turnout for the event made clear the huge need for Spanish-language training for landscape workers. For example, it is hard to find pesticide or fertilizer certification in Spanish, a big gap considering who is doing much of the landscaping work in northern Virginia. Plant NOVA Natives is planning to start a series of webinars for a general Spanish-speaking audience. Check out the Spanish language material currently on the website at https://www.plantnovanatives.org/espanol.

Plant NOVA Natives, ASNV, and other partners hope to make the conference an annual event, and look forward to the day when landscaping companies become proficient at recognizing and removing invasives, start advertising invasive removal services, and make money off it.

Want birds and butterflies? Plant native shrubs!

Photo: Shrubby Saint John’s Wort, Margaret Fisher

Margaret Fisher

When it comes to the curb appeal of our houses and other buildings, the difference between starkly naked and softly clothed is the shrubs. What is a shrub, anyway? According to famous bird expert David Allen Sibley, “If you can walk under it, it’s a tree; if you have to walk around it, it’s a shrub.” Other than being multi-stemmed and relatively short, a shrub is pretty much the same as a tree and therefore provides the same environmental benefits, albeit to a smaller degree. And the difference between a native shrub and a non-native one is that the former will not only beautify a property but will turn it into a living landscape that supports the butterflies and birds.

Many people are looking at their yards and at public land and realizing that a lot of the space is being wasted. Turf grass has its advantages for certain purposes, such as providing a place to walk or play sports, but as a non-native plant, it does nothing for the ecosystem and requires a lot of input to maintain. Chipping away at the lawn with native shrubs can quickly cover the ground at a very low cost. Beyond the initial watering to get them established, they will require little or no maintenance from then on.

Shrubby St. John’s Wort, Margaret Fisher

For small spaces, there are some native shrubs that naturally stay short, such as Shrubby Saint John’s Wort (Hypericum prolificum) with its bright yellow flowers. There are also smaller cultivars of larger shrubs, such as Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) with its red berries that persist into January until they finally soften up and become a food source for hungry birds. If you use shrubs whose ultimate height fits the space you have in mind, the yearly shearing task will be eliminated. These and many other native shrubs are described on the Plant NOVA Natives website, which also points to places to buy them.

Some native shrubs grow tall enough to provide shade and can be an alternative to a small flowering tree. Common Witch-hazel is an example of that. So named because of the cute bumps it gets on its leaves in the shape of a witch’s hat, this native shrub is also magical for flowers that are revealed in November after the leaves fall off. Those bumps, by the way, are caused by the reaction of the plant to a chemical injected by a tiny insect, the Witch-hazel Cone Gall Aphid. The cone-shaped bumps provide food and shelter to the female aphids as they lay their eggs.

Native shrubs can fill in the spaces between trees. From an environmental perspective, this arrangement is ideal, providing shelter and food at multiple heights, something we have lost in many of our woods to excessive browsing by deer. (In fact, although “Nature’s first green is gold,” if you look into the woods of Northern Virginia right now, there is a suspicious amount of green, much of which is due to invasive species such as Multiflora Rose and Asian Bush Honeysuckle. The leaves of invasive plants often emerge earlier and persist later than those of our native shrubs.) In our own yards, we can take steps to protect plants from deer and to swap out invasive shrubs for native ones and thus help support our local ecosystem.

The Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) is collecting data on how many trees are planted in Northern Virginia as it works toward the goal of 600,000 by 2025. For this purpose, shrubs count as trees, so VDOF is encouraging everyone to report plantings of both. A reporting form can be found on the Plant NOVA Trees website.

Five Myths About Trees

Photo: Sara Holtz

Margaret Fisher

It’s no myth that trees hold a special place in our collective psyche. Trees play a prominent role in myths, often symbolizing life and rebirth. Unfortunately, some of today’s stories about them are just plain wrong.

What not to do, Sara Holtz

1. Trees need big piles of mulch. Or perhaps we should call this The Myth of the Angry Volcano Gods, who are appeased by stuffing trees down their maws. It’s hard to know how this harmful practice got started, but we are seeing it everywhere. Trees should be planted with the top of their roots level to the ground, just as in nature. Mulch should never be allowed to touch the trunk, as it causes bark rot. Shredded mulch can form a barrier to water when it mats down, so arborist wood chips are preferred – assuming mulch is needed at all – and no more than 2-4 inches deep. The Fairfax County Tree Basics booklet, which you can download for free, shows proper tree planting and care practices and is available in multiple languages.

2. Tree wounds need dressing. Trees cannot heal the way we do after they are cut, which is one reason why topping a tree is such a bad idea. A broken limb should be trimmed back to just beyond the branch cuff then left alone to try to close over, which, with luck, it may accomplish before fungi set in. Painting tar on the surface just encourages rot.

3. All leaning trees are dangerous. It is normal for trees to grow toward the light. They reinforce their wood to make themselves stable. If you are worried that a tree may become hazardous, you can get an opinion from a consulting arborist who is certified by the International Society of Arborists (ISA) and who has no financial interest in cutting it down.

4. Trees litter. Well, trees do create leaf “litter,” but that’s an unfriendly word to use to describe feeding the soil and providing habitat for fireflies and wintering grounds for butterflies. The best thing you can do for a tree and the ecosystem is leave the leaves underneath where they fall. If you are afraid that they will smother the grass, you can chop them up with a lawn mower so they at least add organic matter to the soil, a practice that is good for the trees and the grass (but hard on the critters).

5. One tree is as good as another. Not so! All trees can provide shade and capture stormwater, but only native trees support biodiversity. In fact, native trees are the very backbone of our local ecosystem, providing the majority of the leaves upon which our native caterpillars feed, which in turn provide the diet required by baby songbirds. In fact, not only do some non-native trees do nothing to feed the birds, they are actually invasive, taking over and destroying what is left of our remnant woods and starting to threaten our bigger forests as well. With few exceptions, there are native trees to serve any landscaping need. Find out all about them on the Plant NOVA Trees website.

Solar Panels vs. Trees – How to Choose?

Photo: Shade tree, Margaret Fisher

Margaret Fisher

Residents who are interested in installing solar panels often face a dilemma. Which is better for the environment, solar panels or shade trees? After all, climate change due to burning fossil fuels is threatening the very existence of trees, not to mention human beings, and the timeline for preventing catastrophic temperature rise is short. Before we get out the chainsaw, though, there are several other things to consider.

One of the main reasons to try to limit temperature rise is to prevent ecosystem collapse. The native trees in our yards are as much a part of that ecosystem as the ones in the Amazon, providing food, shelter and nesting places not only for birds and mammals but for a myriad of invertebrates that are a critical part of the web of life. If we do not even protect the environment where we live, we can hardly expect people in the Amazon to take more of an interest.

Sunny rooftops are an ideal place to put solar panels, because that real estate is already built upon, and because decentralizing the grid helps build resilience. The land use anticipated for solar farms and new transmission lines is so massive, and the willingness of companies to replace forests with them so counterproductive and disheartening, that the more we use our own rooftops, the better. 

But solar energy is neither the only way to reduce fossil fuel use nor the most efficient of the various options for homeowners. The first step should always be to reduce energy consumption, by weatherizing and taking other steps to reduce waste. For those ready to make a big investment, an alternative to consider is a heat pump or even a geothermal system for heating and air conditioning. As is true for solar panels, the cost of installation can be partially offset by a significant tax credit. Some utility companies, including Dominion, allow customers to choose a renewable energy option. “Renewable” is not always the same as “clean” (It can include burning chopped down trees, for example.), but much of the renewable electricity is generated by wind and solar farms. 

It will take considerable effort and broad participation for our community to meet its climate goals, but not everyone has to do everything themselves on their own property. Those with sunny roofs can contribute solar energy. Those with trees can take care of them.

Shade tree, Margaret Fisher

Trees themselves are what are known as a “natural climate solution.” They provide benefits that mitigate the effect of climate change. Trees improve the energy efficiency of houses. In the winter, they reduce heating costs by blocking the wind. In the summer, they reduce air conditioning costs, because roofs and walls in the shade are often twenty degrees cooler than those in the sun. In addition, trees improve air quality and sequester carbon dioxide. Their ability to capture stormwater is particularly important in flood-prone suburban and urban areas with their excess of impervious surfaces. The leaves of the trees capture much of the rain before it even reaches the ground. Once it does reach the ground, transpiration by canopy trees sucks thousands of gallons of water from the ground, thus enabling the soil to control flooding.

Try using the National Tree Benefit Calculator at the bottom of the Plant NOVA Natives web page to see what you save in monetary terms by preserving a few mature trees, strategically located around your property. For the birds and other critters that depend on them, the native trees are priceless.

Managing larger properties for birds, butterflies, and people

Photo: Courtesy of Plant NoVA Trees

By Margaret Fisher

The outdoor space on larger properties in Northern Virginia, whether residential or commercial, is typically divided into formal landscaping close to buildings and natural areas at the periphery. New practices are emerging on how to manage both areas, practices that protect the ecosystem and support the birds and the butterflies while better satisfying human needs.

The natural areas between properties are an important amenity, providing visual barriers and sound buffers while capturing stormwater and reducing flooding. Looking around, it is evident that those natural areas are often being left to take care of themselves. The result is that they are steadily degrading as the native trees are displaced by invasive non-native trees and directly killed by invasive vines. The shrubs and ground layers are equally damaged by invasive species at those levels. Many of these invasive plants originate from the landscaped areas where they had been planted before people knew to do otherwise. Preserving trees and habitat in both areas requires taking out the invasives and replacing them with native species, of which numerous options are available.

Some other tweaking is also needed to common landscaping practices. To name a few examples, piling mulch against the trunks of trees causes the bark to rot. Blowing the fallen leaves out from under trees destroys the cover where fireflies and many butterflies overwinter. Leaf blowers with two-stroke engines pour pollution into the air and are loud enough to damage workers’ ears. Outdoor lighting can adversely affect birds, insects and plants. Spraying insecticides kills the bees and caterpillars even more than the mosquitoes they are intended to target. Simple solutions are available to mitigate all these problems.

Professional property managers and community managers negotiate the contracts with landscaping companies and can work with them to adjust their services. Details of the various options for both landscaped and natural areas can be found on the Plant NOVA Trees website in a section specifically for professionals. www.plantnovatrees.org/property-managers Please spread the word to the managers of any properties where you live or work.

Keeping our wooded areas beautiful

Photo: Healthy woods, Margaret Fisher

Margaret Fisher

If your community owns some wooded common land, or if you yourself own a wooded property, you may have noticed that the woods around here have been slowly changing, and not for the better. They may still look green, but the devil is in the details: much of that “green” is now made up of invasive, non-native plants that damage the ecosystem and bring down the trees. 

Margaret Fisher

Natural wooded areas are a beautiful and invaluable resource for any landowner or community. Unlike most material assets, they appreciate over time. They capture stormwater and keep our basements from flooding. They provide soundproofing and a visual barrier between properties as well as a place for us to walk and enjoy nature. They block the wind and lower heating costs in the winter. And, of course, they are the home to birds and other wondrous beings, who will need our help if their homes are not to disappear completely.

In the past, the woods managed themselves nicely. In present-day northern Virginia, at least some care is needed to keep the woods from degrading, turning an asset into an increasingly expensive problem. It is wise to make a forest management plan that looks ahead for twenty or twenty-five years. You can do this on your own, or you can call in a consultant to help you evaluate the situation and map out solutions to any problems. Professional assistance is available, as are volunteers from various programs including Tree Stewards, Master Naturalists, and Audubon-at-Home ambassadors.

The two biggest threats to our woods are invasive, non-native plants and browsing by deer. In many places, the deer have taken away everything except the mature trees and the invasive plants, not even leaving the seedlings that should be there to become the next generation of trees. Removing the invasives and protecting native plants from deer are the highest priority in most areas.

Some of our attempts to “improve” the woods may have the opposite effect. Woods do not need to be cleaned! The dead leaves and fallen trees are essential components of a healthy ecosystem. (Dumping extra leaves from your lawn damages that ecosystem, though.) Standing dead trees provide perches for birds of prey, nesting sites for songbirds, shelters for mammals, and food for thousands of species of insects. They are also becoming increasingly rare in our human-managed environment. Try to leave them standing, or, if they pose a hazard, just cut off the top and leave as much as you can standing.

For information about how to manage your woods, and how to help your community develop a long-term plan, see the Plant NOVA Trees website.

Plant NOVA Trees – One Year On

Photo: Peggychoucair via Pixabay

Margret Fisher

September marks the first anniversary of the launch of Plant NOVA Trees, a regionwide effort by over a hundred local organizations and thousands of individuals to promote native trees and shrubs in Northern Virginia. There is no regional tree planting agency that can do the job for us. Rather, it is up to each individual to look around to see how they can contribute, at home, at work, or on common land. Plant NOVA Trees connects people to the resources they need to do that.

There are many ways to participate. The simplest is to identify every appropriate site and plant young trees or shrubs there now, preferably canopy trees if there is room. They may not look like much the first couple years, but soon they will grow and provide shade and cooling for humans as well as shelter and food for our birds and butterflies. Information on how to choose and plant a native tree or shrub is available on the Plant NOVA Trees website. Fifty volunteers have visited local garden centers to hang thousands of tags on the native trees, making them easy to identify. (The same volunteers have been putting red stickers on all the native plants in those garden centers for several years.)

Each of our local jurisdictions and park services has tree planting plans for public lands. For example, the Prince William Soil and Conservation District has been working with 3rd and 4th graders to plant trees on school grounds. Kudos go especially to Purcellville, which planted 118,100 trees last year on former farmland that is owned by the town.

Members of local communities have also gotten together to plant trees in their common areas and to help residents plant on their own properties. So far, residents have self-reported 7,850 trees and shrubs on the Plant NOVA Trees website form. The Virginia Department of Forestry is collecting these figures as it works to meet its goal of 600,000 trees planted in Northern Virginia by 2025. This number is intended to help our region meet its obligation to protect the Chesapeake Bay, since runoff from roofs, roads and empty lawns is causing damage downstream, and trees are nature’s tool for capturing water. Those who appreciate our waterways should give careful thought to how they can contain stormwater on their own properties before it rushes off to erode our streams and dump sediment and pollutants into the Bay.

Despite all these efforts, Northern Virginia is gradually losing tree canopy. Multiple factors contribute to tree death. Some are hard to change on a local level, such as the stress on trees from climate change. Others are absolutely within our control, such as poor planting and mulching practices or the sacrifice of trees for more roads, buildings, and park amenities. Each native tree lost is one less home for birds and other wildlife as our local ecosystem suffers its death from a thousand cuts.

Invasive vines (as opposed to the beneficial native vines) pose another important threat to trees, and this has become one of the foci of the Plant NOVA Trees campaign. Volunteers for the new Tree Rescuers program spot trees that are at risk from English Ivy, Asian Wisteria, or other invasive non-native vines and drop off literature with the owners to alert them to the easily-mitigated problem. While they are at it, the volunteers count the trees at risk so we can get a more precise handle on where resources should be concentrated. So far, over two hundred volunteers have alerted 799 residents to 3,491 trees at risk in 4.2 square miles of residential properties. In addition, they have counted almost 22,000 trees at risk in 3.3 square miles of non-residential areas. The data collection is too preliminary to make an accurate extrapolation, but it would appear that the total number of trees in need of rescue in Northern Virginia’s 1,300 square miles may be in the millions.

There are numerous opportunities around Northern Virginia to help control these invasive vines by cutting them near the ground. Over 3500 trees have been reported as saved so far. Besides saving the trees on their own properties, volunteers can organize the work on common land within their communities or join the invasives management programs of the various park services, listed on the Plant NOVA Trees “Rescuing Trees” page. Residents and communities can obtain a permit to clip the vines on VDOT property. In general, though, the resources to control invasives on government-owned land and easements will need to come from the governments themselves (and ultimately from the taxpayers.) It is also critical that everyone stop planting invasive plants to begin with, not only the invasive vines but all the other invasive non-native landscaping plants such as Bradford Pears and Burning Bush that escape from our properties into natural areas.

Businesses have been helping with the regional tree campaign in several ways. Local garden centers are promoting native trees and shrubs in honor of Celebrate Native Trees Week (Sept 26-Oct 2). Landscaping companies are increasingly choosing native species, and a few have started to offer invasive plant removal services. Any company could educate its employees and customers and provide financial support to neighborhoods that need help with their open spaces. Those businesses that control property can plant and preserve native trees there, which in some places may mean tearing up concrete to make room.

So, what can you do to support the native tree campaign? Plant NOVA Trees is essentially an educational organization. The success of this initiative depends on the individual efforts of residents across the region. There is no shortage of ideas on how to get involved, whether where you live or work, or on a wider scale. Find these ideas on the Plant NOVA Trees website.

Plant NOVA Natives is the joint marketing campaign of a grand coalition of non-profit, governmental, and private groups, including ASNV, plus hundreds of individuals, all working to reverse the decline of native plants and wildlife in Northern Virginia. Our strategy is to encourage residents as well as public and commercial entities to install native plants as the first step toward creating wildlife habitat and functioning ecosystems on their own properties. All are welcome to participate in this collective action movement!

Plant NOVA Trees is a focused drive of the Plant NOVA Natives campaign to increase native tree canopy in Northern Virginia by encouraging residents and businesses to plant new trees and preserve the ones we already have. 

Welcoming Visitors with Native Plant Landscaping

Photo: Native plants on display at a neighborhood entrance, Jane Kirchner

Margaret Fisher (Plant NOVA Natives), Barb Tuset and Betsy Martin (Audubon at Home)

The big signs that welcome visitors to neighborhoods are usually framed by conventional ornamental shrubs, grasses, and annual flowers. Last year, Northern Virginia communities were invited to apply for matching mini-grants to spruce up their entranceways using only Virginia native plants. A condition of the mini-grants was that the projects be designed by a professional landscape designer to require no more long-term maintenance than the typical landscaping crew is accustomed to providing. The original grant money was provided by Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation’s Environmental Education and Stewardship Grants Program to the Audubon at Home program in collaboration with Plant NOVA Natives. Audubon at Home volunteers help residents and organizations strategize about using their properties to create wildlife sanctuaries.

Interest in the grants was high. Thirty-five neighborhoods in Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William, and Loudoun counties applied for the six grants, which also required that the communities do outreach to educate their residents about the value of using native plants to beautify their yards and support birds and other wildlife. Conventional landscaping may appeal to the aesthetic tastes of many people, but keeping the look fresh is a challenge and can be expensive. Shrubs that are repeatedly trimmed start to decline, ornamental grasses get overgrown and floppy, and annual flowers have to be replaced three times a year. More importantly, the usual non-native choices for shrubs and grasses in this situation are often invasive, which contributes to adjacent yards and natural areas being overrun by escaped Chinese Privet, Japanese Barberry, Chinese Silvergrass, English Ivy, Periwinkle, Liriope, and other offenders. By contrast, carefully chosen native shrubs can be allowed to reach their natural height without trimming, and tidy-looking native perennials need only be planted once. The result can still satisfy residents’ desire for a formal look (and for flowers) while requiring different but no more burdensome maintenance tasks.

Native plants on display at a neighborhood entrance, Jane Kirchner

As seen on this web page, even soon after installation, the entranceways of the grant recipients were showing the potential of this new approach. As they fill in over the next two years, passersby will be able to appreciate what native plants can do when installed using solid design principles. Landscaping in an institutional setting has its challenges, whether it be a community association, faith community, or other organization where volunteers run the Board and committees. Tempting though it is to install colorful pollinator gardens with a dizzying array of native flowers to attract butterflies, most communities would be hard pressed to find experienced gardeners to dedicate the hour or so per month needed for an average size garden bed, year after year. This degree of expertise becomes unnecessary if only a few distinctive-looking plant species are installed, making weeding a simpler task for any worker. More tips can be found on the Plant NOVA Natives website. As the volunteers at Auburn Village Condominium wrote, “Communities should not be afraid to have native gardens. They can be designed in a way to look like conventional gardens and at the same time be beneficial to critters. We wanted our space to show the community that beautiful spaces can be created with native plants.”

Be Nice to your Trees

Photo: Felix Mittermeier via Pixabay

Margaret Fisher

Temperature comparison, Margaret Fisher

On a recent day, driving out of the sun into a wooded community resulted in a temperature drop from 91 to 86 degrees. We all try to stay in the shade in hot weather, competing for the parking spaces under trees. What we may not realize is that tree-lined neighborhoods are cooler not just because of the shade but because the trees themselves act as air conditioners. The basic concept is that it takes energy to turn a liquid into a gas – we see that when boiling water. When a tree sucks up water through its roots and releases it as a gas through its leaves, a process known as transpiration, the energy that causes the water to evaporate is absorbed from the surroundings in the form of heat, and the result is a lower air temperature. This principle of physics also explains why sweating cools our bodies.

Newly planted trees are particularly vulnerable to high heat, so the most basic care needed from us is to provide enough water until they are well established. Seedlings establish quickly, but a landscaper-sized tree needs several years for its root to grow out of the planting hole into the surrounding soil. Our torrential summer storms can fool us into thinking we are getting enough rain, but many of them are brief and don’t even budge the rain gauge. A young tree with brown leaves is a very sad sight. At the same time, overwatering any plant can be worse than underwatering, by depriving the roots of oxygen, so we need to be careful to follow instructions in that regard and allow the soil to dry out between waterings.

Once a native tree gets established, though, little if any care may be required for the next twenty years or so. Our oaks and other native trees evolved here and are accustomed to the local soils and our variable temperatures and rainfall, although those 91-degree days are adding to the stress of living in an urban or suburban environment. Because older trees may start to develop issues, it is wise to have those that are near houses inspected every two years by an independent consulting arborist, meaning one who has no financial incentive to sell tree care services. They can recommend procedures that may prevent a tree from becoming hazardous. Even better, they may be able to provide reassurance, for instance, that a tree that is leaning a little may be quite stable, despite the dire warnings of a marketing rep from a tree company that is eager to keep its crew busy. Always use the services of arborists certified by the ISA (International Society of Arboriculture.)

When future residents are facing temperatures even higher than today’s, a five-degree lower temperature may make a life-or-death difference. Consider what hundred-degree weather does to the human body when a prolonged blackout shuts down everyone’s air conditioning. It pays to take good care of our trees. Find out how on the Plant NOVA Trees website.

Free trees for communities

Photo: Ann Hathaway

Margaret Fisher

As community associations around Northern Virginia ramp up their native tree planting efforts, they are looking around to find ways to make it affordable. Burke Centre resident Craig Willett has solved that problem for his neighbors: all they have to do is fill out a simple form to get a free tree. A member of Burke Centre Conservancy’s volunteer Open Space Committee, Craig has organized a system both for private property and for common land. On private land, residents pick up seedlings from Craig’s house and plant them themselves. On common land, the Trustees of the various clusters put in a request, and Craig and his colleagues will install trees or shrubs either to replace ones that have died or to reforest open areas. You can see him pictured here with fellow volunteer Mike Hathaway, in red.

Newly planted tree. Photo: Ann Hathaway

Trees grow slowly, and they also die slowly. Many neighborhoods around Northern Virginia have been losing their canopy coverage, bit by bit, so that once pleasantly shaded yards and streets where neighbors and children could gather are gradually becoming intolerable as our summer temperatures rise. Communities that wish to reverse this trend are most likely to succeed if they build a long-term routine for tree care and tree replacement into their master plans. Where there is no community association, residents will need to step forward to help each other make a plan.

Burke Centre Conservancy obtains its tree seedlings from Fairfax ReLeaf, a non-profit organization of volunteers who plant and preserve native trees on public and common lands in Northern Virginia. Individual landowners may also request seedlings from Fairfax ReLeaf. 

Any community in Fairfax County that owns open space may also apply for free trees from the Fairfax Tree Preservation and Planting Fund. It is not necessary to be a 501(c)3 organization to apply as long as the open space is commonly owned. This is a solid funding source for organizations that want to plant either seedlings or larger trees. The application process looks a little intimidating at first glance because of the long list of requirements, but in fact the required steps are all ones that any organization would take anyway when planting trees.

Programs for obtaining free native trees are also available to communities in Arlington and Falls Church. And although not free, there are numerous ways to obtain native trees for a very low price. For example, the Virginia Department of Forestry sells tree and shrub seedlings for $2.00 apiece for orders of ten or more. Our local native plant garden centers all sell medium-sized trees in containers at reasonable prices. Those trees may look a little small when first planted, but they will rapidly catch up to trees that were planted when larger, since older trees suffer more transplant shock. Two wholesalers of larger trees offer their trees at wholesale cost to people who are organizing community plantings. Links to all these programs can be found on the Plant NOVA Trees website.

Since 2018, Burke Centre Conservancy has planted over 600 bare root seedlings, which is in keeping with the nature-centered philosophy of this community with its extensive network of trails through the woods. More details about their process can be found on this web page.

Native Groundcovers and Trees: The perfect pairing!

Photo: Native groundcovers, Margaret Fisher

Plant NoVA Natives

Native groundcovers are becoming increasingly popular, for good reason: even if they have minimal time for gardening, people want to use native plants to support our local birds and butterflies. To avoid invasive non-native groundcovers such as English Ivy, Vinca, Yellow Archangel, and Japanese Pachysandra, they turn to native plants for the same landscaping benefits without the damage to our trees and the rest of the environment.

Equally popular among time-pressed residents are native trees, which are similarly easy to install and which have benefits that far exceed those of any other plants. Not only does the great mass of tree leaves and roots provide food and homes for birds, soak up stormwater, and cool the air, the insects that evolved with native plants are adapted to the chemical make-up of those plants and are able to co-exist peacefully with them. An American Beech tree, for example, is the host plant to 126 species of lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Hickory to 200 species, Black Cherry around 450 species, and native oaks over 500 species. (The numbers for non-native trees are in the single digits or even zero.)

Over 30 species of locally native plants make excellent groundcovers, with options available for any growing condition. Several are evergreen, and many have the bonus of a month or two of colorful flowers. Some form a tight mat on the ground, while others such as ferns and White Wood Aster provide a taller look. Native sedges provide even more options. Some sedges make a beautiful substitute for the invasive Liriope, some look more like a grass that never needs mowing, and still others sport spiky seed heads that add a touch of quirkiness to the garden. Our local conventional garden centers are starting to carry some of these plants, and many more can be found at native plant garden centers.

Encircling native trees with native groundcovers makes eminent sense. Turf grass does poorly under trees because of the limited light. Trees do not appreciate lawn chemicals, not to mention the risk of injury from lawnmowers and string trimmers. A harmful but common practice, especially in commercial areas, is to pile layer after layer of mulch in a “mulch volcano” around trees and spray it with herbicides to prevent grass and weed growth. Not only does this poison the soil, but mulch that is touching the trunk will rot the bark, and compacted mulch prevents rainwater from reaching the roots. Arborist wood chips, which allow the water to run through, are an improvement over shredded bark mulch if applied properly and can protect the tree as it gets established. But in the long run, why not use nature’s alternative to a toxic mulch bed, which is to allow the fallen leaves to remain in place and add a “green mulch” made up of native plants? The trees and the soil will thank you for it.