In late August and September, Purple Lovegrass casts a lovely purplish haze over the roadsides and low fields. This lowgrowing, warm season bunch grass lights up the early fall landscape with airy clouds of small reddish-purple flowers that seem to float above the dense tufts of low foliage that grows only 6 -12” high. The airy inflorescence has an intricate whorled branching structure with three delicate wiry stems rising from the main pedicel and holds the small flowers, then seeds, above the foliage reaching 12 – 20” high.

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Great Blue Lobelia is a lovely late-blooming perennial in the Bellflower family that flaunts tall blue spires of flowers for weeks on end in the late summer-fall. Also called Blue Cardinal Flower or just Great Lobelia, this relative of the well-known red Cardinal Flower is native to most of eastern North America and is naturally found in moist to wet habitats such as floodplain forests, moist cove and slope forests, seeps, stream banks and bars, and wet meadows, often over limestone or calcium-rich soils.

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One of my all-time favorite pollinator plants, Short-toothed Mountain-mint, has just recently been added to the flora of the Northern Neck and I am thrilled to include it as the July Plant of the Month. Several large populations of this incredible pollinator powerhouse were recently discovered near Fone’s Cliff in Westmoreland County and are now listed in the Virginia Digital Atlas for this county.

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The showy white flowerheads of American Elderberry can reach up to 10% across American Elderberry is a common, deciduous shrub that lights up our landscape from mid-May through June with huge and profuse clusters of white flowers that literally form a lacy veil over the shrub.

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Did you know we have a wonderful native Wild Strawberry, also known as Scarlet or Virginia Strawberry?  It is an adaptable low, herbaceous perennial that spreads by runners to form handsome, ground-covering semi-evergreen colonies.

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With the arrival of spring this month, I always look forward to finding one of my favorite early wildflowers, Virginia Pennywort. This herbaceous perennial is a diminutive spring ephemeral that emerges as early as February in the Coastal Plain but is often hidden in the leaf litter and visible only to those with the sharpest eyes.

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Red Maples, also called Swamp or Scarlet Maples, are known for their brilliant fall color. Now they may seem to be a surprising choice for the February Plant of the Month, but they are a true harbinger of spring, blooming in late winter often as early as February in Coastal Virginia.

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One of my favorite plants during winter walks in the woods is the Common Running-cedar. This lovely but distinctive evergreen plant is common across Virginia in moist to dry acidic forests, especially in disturbed or successional forests with mixed pines, oaks or tulip poplars.

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Inkberry or Gallberry is a great choice for the December Plant of the Month. This handsome broadleaf evergreen shrub typically grows slowly to about 5 – 8’ high and wide and has plenty of winter interest with its small narrowly ovate to lance-like dark green leaves that sparkle in the winter sun.

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Winged Sumac is a beautiful large deciduous shrub that shines throughout the year but is especially vibrant when it ignites into a fiery crescendo in fall. Typically growing from 7 – 15’ tall, this sumac often spreads into large colonies by root suckers.

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The October Plant of the Month, Sourwood or Lily-of-the-Valley Tree, is spectacular in every season but especially so each fall as the foliage ignites into brilliant crimson or reddish-purple. Sourwood is one of our earliest, most vivid, and most reliable fall coloring trees, especially in the South.

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Sweet or Anise-scented Goldenrod is one of the earliest fall blooming Goldenrods to grace our open areas including open woods, fields, powerline cuts and roadsides each fall.

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Common Cut-leaf Coneflower is a tall statuesque late summer-fall bloomer found throughout Virginia and stands above most perennials at heights 5 to 9 feet. Also known as Green-headed, Tall Coneflower, or Wild Golden Glow, it is widely distributed in open floodplain forests, alluvial swamps, seepage swamps, wet meadows, and along streams and rivers and even roadsides.

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The July Plant of the Month, Common Milkweed, is a lovely, robust, herbaceous perennial festooned with showy clusters of flowers from June to August. A member of the Milkweed genus, Asclepias, it often gets a bad rap for its rhizomatous roots that can spread aggressively; however, this species offers many attractive benefits.

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Southeastern Prickly-pear Cactus, is certainly eye-catching when in bloom in late May and June and curious and just plain cool at any time of year. This native evergreen is technically a “shrub” although it grows only 6 – 12” high.

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Every spring I look forward to seeing the lovely lavender-blue spires of Sundial Lupine rising above distinctive pinwheel foliage along sandy roadsides and open woods. Also known as Wild Lupine, this member of the Legume Family is found throughout the Eastern and Central United States.

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A few weeks ago, driving north from Florida, we passed mile after mile of waves of lavender-blue flowers gracing the highway shoulders in South Carolina.  We were thrilled to see Lyre-leaf Sage, Salvia lyrata, creating a gorgeous spectacle along an otherwise barren straight stretch of road.

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