Create Natural Landscapes Using Native Plants

• Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping – Chesapeake Bay Watershed (pdf), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. This publication is organized by plant types (shrubs, trees, ferns, grasses, groundcovers, etc.), plant names (and pictures), plant characteristics, growth conditions, habitat, where to use, and wildlife value.

• Another great resource is the Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center searchable database.

• Attract birds and butterflies: Creating Inviting Habitat, (pdf), a Virginia tech publication.

• Tried and True Plants, Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia

• Native Plant Center, Chesapeake Bay Watershed Native Plants for Wildlife and Habitat Conservation (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)  

• Native Plants for Conservation, Restoration and Landscaping, Virginia Dept of Conservation and Recreation, Natural Heritage

• Native Gardening with Wildflowers, U.S. Forest Service

• The Nature of Change, Preserving the Natural Heritage of a Dynamic Region (pdf), Audubon-at-Home (now the Northern Virginia Bird Alliance Wildlife Sanctuary program) ​

 

Find Your Physiographic Province – Are you Coastal, Piedmont, or Mountain?

Map showing your county – Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation or refer to the physiographic section (page 30) of the Guide to Native Plants for Northern Virginia (pdf).

 

How To Check if Your Plant is a Northern Virginia Native (Coastal/Piedmont)

• Digital Atlas of Virginia Flora

• Flora of Virginia Project

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Pollinators! Bees, Beetles, Bats, Other Insects, Slugs!

• Pollinators – Our Future Flies on the Wings of Pollinators, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture – covers all of our pollinators.

• Attracting Native Pollinators from the The Xerces Society

• Bee Basics – An Introduction to Our Native Bees (pdf), USDA Forest Service & Pollinator Partnership Publication

• Insects and Pollinators, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation

• Pollinator Planting Guides by Region, the Pollinator Partnership

• Gardening and Landscaping Practices for Ground Nesting Bees (pdf)

• Beekeeping safety information

 

Invasives That Threaten Your Yard, Investment, and Recreation

• English Ivy – A Choking Hazard to Trees, Arlington Regional Master Naturalists

• Native Alternatives to English Ivy (pdf), Virginia Native Plant Society – Potowmack Chapter

• Mile-A-Minute Fact Sheet (pdf) and Garlic Mustard Fact Sheet (pdf), United States Department of Agriculture

• Virginia Invasive Species Checklist (pdf), Virginia Department of Conservation & Recreation

• Native Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas (pdf), National Park Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

• Weeds Gone Wild: Alien Plant Invaders of Natural Areas (pdf), National Park Service

 

Proper Tree Planting and Care

• Tree Owner Information – Tree Owner’s Manual on tree maintenance, pruning, and care, Int’l Society of Arborists (ISA) & USDA

• Fairfax Tree Information – important link for tree care, property owner information

• Tree Care and Removal – Fairfax County

• Arborist – Search for an ISA Certified Arborist

• National Tree Benefit Calculator – Input your tree data to calculate the yearly economic and ecological benefits of your tree.

• 24 Ways to Kill a Tree – Virginia Cooperative Extension; 10 Easy Ways to Kill a Tree and How to Avoid Them (pdf)

• Tree & Forest Health Guide

 

Volcanoes in Virginia Killing Your Trees – What is Proper Mulching?

• ISA Proper Mulching Techniques (pdf)

• ‘Mulch out, not up’ A guide by the Virginia Cooperative Extension and Arborist Tree Care

 

Organizations to Assist You and Expand Knowledge of the Natural World

• Nature Forward - puts on many events.

• Virginia Department of Forestry

• Trees Virginia, Virginia Urban Forest Council

• Habitat at Home, Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries

• GreenScaping - The Easy Way to a Greener, Healthier Yard (pdf), EPA

• Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation, Fairfax County. Information on erosion, stream stabilization, storm gardens, storm water barrels, natives, etc.

• Northern Virginia Bird Alliance (formerly Audubon Society of Northern Virginia) (NVBA)

• Northern Virginia Bird Alliance Wildlife Sanctuary Program (formerly Audubon-at-Home) – A volunteer ambassador comes to your home and can certify your property as a wildlife sanctuary or advise you on creating a bird-friendly property. The program also certifies HOA property, churches, businesses, and schools.

• Fairfax Master Naturalists and Fairfax Tree Stewards

• Rutgers Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistance database

• Fairfax ReLeaf – Volunteers restore habitat on public and commons lands in Northern Virginia.

• Prince William Wildflower Society and Virginia Native Plant Society

• Earth Sangha

• Fairfax Master Gardeners and Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia

• Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy

• Landscape Performance – An amazing website for professionals that summarizes a lot of research and has detailed case studies which include quantitative estimates of the environmental, social, and economic benefits of each project.

 

Beyond the How-to’s: Good Reads (and Listens) to Inspire and Educate

Why we are doing this:

Bringing Nature Home, How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants by Douglas W. Tallamy. An excellent read - the book that started the popular movement.

Critical Issues in Biodiversity by Stanwyn Shetler

 

For gardeners:

• The Living Landscape, Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden by Rick Darke & Doug Tallamy

• Finding Wildflowers in the Washington-Baltimore Area, Cristol Fleming, Marion Lobstein and Barbara Tufty, 1995

• Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, Michael A. Dirr, 2009 (Details about cultivars in general, not just natives.)

• Native Ferns, Mosses, and Grasses, William Cullina, 2008

• Native Trees, Shrubs, & Vines: A Guide to Using, Growing, and Propagating North American Woody Plants, William Cullina, New England Wild Flower Society, Houghton Mifflin, 2002

• Teaming with Microbes, Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis, 2010

• The New England Wild Flower Society Guide to Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada, William Cullina, 2000

• Wildflowers and Grasses of Virginia’s Coastal Plain, Helen Hamilton and Gustavus Hall, 2013

• The American Woodland Garden, Rick Darke, 2002

 

Landscaping for Wildlife

• Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West

• Native Plants of the Northeast: A Guide for Gardening & Conservation, Donald J. Leopold

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For people interested in the natural environment:

• Flora of Virginia, Alan S. Weakley, J. Christopher Ludwig & John E Townsend, 2012. (The ultimate in field guides. Not for the faint-hearted.)

• Walden by Henry David Thoreau

• The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (Pulitzer Prize)

• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

• Ethnobotany – Plants Sustaining People (pdf), U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service

• Common Native Trees of Virginia (pdf), Virginia Department of Forestry

• Common Native Shrubs and Woody Vines of Virginia (pdf), Virginia Department of Forestry

• The Secrets of Wildflowers, A Delightful Feast of Little-Known Facts, Folklore, & History, Jack Sanders, 2003

 

Podcasts

John McGee’s The Native Plant Podcast