February 2026 Update
- 1margaretefisher
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Dormant but very much alive. Please see the article at the bottom of this update and share as widely as possible.
Still looking for new team members
Our Steering Committee has welcomed several new members recently and will happily welcome more. If you want to help on an organizational level with our native plant campaign, please fill out this volunteer interest form and we’ll plug you in.
Also need more garden center volunteers
In our experience, the more volunteers to label the native plants at each garden center, the better! It is fun and interesting work for anyone who can devote a few hours per month in the growing season. Contact plantnovanatives@gmail.com
Upcoming events
Feb 13: GreenScapes conference (virtual)
Feb 14: Prince William Native Plant Symposium (In person and virtual)
Report your native tree and shrub plantings
Please help Northern Virginia meet its tree-planting obligations by reporting your tree and shrub plantings here. So far 20,372 have been reported!
Report your tree rescues
Millions of trees in Northern Virginia are at risk from invasive non-native vines. You can help by saving them on your own land or by volunteering on public land. So far, 22,589 tree rescues have been reported in Northern Virginia. Please add your report here.
Next Steering Committee meeting – February 19, 10am-noon via videoconferencing. All are welcome. Check our Event Calendar for future meetings.
Support Plant NOVA Natives
Would you like to support the campaign? Give a Gift of Trees. All proceeds will go to Plant NOVA Natives. Straight donations are more than welcome, too! :)
This month’s newsletter articles to share. For social media, please use this link.
Their Time to Sleep
By Eileen Ellsworth
It’s February. You glance outside. All is cold, covered in snow, and dark. But the marvel of plant dormancy is once again unfolding, unseen. Plants need their rest and recuperation. It’s an annual phenomenon, a common thing, but that doesn’t make it any less of a miracle.
Dormancy in plants is ancient. While estimates vary, seed dormancy emerged roughly 360 to 370 million years ago and seems to have developed at the same moment seed bearing plants arrived. The strategy allowed the early seed plants to survive the more lethal environmental perils. Their ability to push “pause” whenever extreme cold, drought, flood, or any other earthly or celestial catastrophe occurred gave them a huge advantage. Plants could wait out the worst and only wake up when conditions were better.
How long, exactly, can a seed lie dormant? It’s a good question. Most of our garden plant seeds are probably good in the ground for 1-5 years. After the recent California wildfires, certain “fire-follower” species germinated after 100 years of dormancy and bloomed in large carpets of spectacular color across the landscape. Some documented lotus species whose seeds enjoyed optimum storage conditions sprang back to life after 1,300 years!
No one actually knows how long a seed can lie dormant and remain viable. But it really doesn’t matter. The sheer brilliance of an adaptation that allows a plant to literally pick its go-time is mind-boggling when you think about it. Wish we could do that.
And, of course, plant dormancy goes well beyond the realm of seeds. There is “bud dormancy” triggered by shorter days and cooler temperatures that makes trees and shrubs want to stop growing and shed their leaves. There is “organ-dormancy” forcing above ground rest in some perennials. There is a kind of “pseudo-dormancy” where plants are poised to grow but pause due to unfavorable environments. There is a hibernation-type dormancy that enables plant survival in extreme heat or drought. And so on.
Many strategies, one goal. Keep living. And it is lucky for us that they have. With ancient bacteria as their partner, they figured out how to photosynthesize and turn water and carbon dioxide into glucose and oxygen. They are the reason we can exist, why our cells have glucose to fuel them, why our lungs have oxygen to breathe. Plants, not animals, are the reason this astonishingly beautiful planet is still blue, emergent, and alive.
Our dependency upon their health certainly calls us to be the best possible stewards of the land. There is no doubt that planting and preserving native plants directly advances the goal of restoring biodiversity across our region. Only their magic can do it. The Plant NOVA Natives campaign is all about that, and its website has all you need to know to take action.
Even in the dead of winter, let’s hear it for the plants! Let’s cheer them on and wish them well as they sleep. We owe them everything. They’ve earned their rest. Lay dormant, dear friends. Pick the time when all is well and come to greet us again. We hope it’s soon. We love you so. We couldn’t live without you.