You are invited to the 7th Annual Prince William Native Plant Symposium

Saturday, February 8th, 2025.

Narrow-Leaved Mountain Mint_001A native bee feeds on nectar from Narrowleaf Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium), an herbaceous perennial native throughout Virginia and much of the eastern United States.  Why attend?   

Well, there are many reasons, but perhaps the best is that if you are considering adding plants to your property (or one you manage), you can learn about how you can join thousands of others in our region in transforming your yard into a life-sustaining environment simply by choosing to use native plants for your landscape.  

Or perhaps you already are transforming your yard into an ecologically friendly landscape and want to go deeper into understanding topics like how healthy soils function or what effect breeding various cultivars of native plants has had on their ecological value.  This symposium offers talks for beginners and on advanced topics like these.  

And perhaps best of all, our Keynote Speaker will be Dr. Douglas Tallamy, an outstanding leader in communicating the value of native plants.  Dr. Tallamy is a professor of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware.  He (and his graduate students) has been invaluable in translating scientific research into common knowledge about just how vital native plants are to our local ecosystems.  He is highly sought as a speaker, and I can tell you as a member of the PWNPS planning team that we are very pleased to be able to bring him to you in person.

We will also have local gardening/conservation organizations exhibiting so you can bring your questions to these helpful organizations.

Here is a link to all the details of the Symposium and registration. 

Below are just a few examples of how native plants foster healthy populations of birds, bees and other insects so important to our lives.

BLACK WILLOW, (Salix nigra) and the value of early blooming native trees to migrating songbirds.

Like most warblers, the Nashville Warbler Nashville Warbler_JF91027
(pictured right) is a neotropical migrant. After wintering in the Caribbean, southern Texas, Mexico and Central America, many the Nashville
Warblers migrate through the eastern U.S., including Virginia, to reach their breeding grounds in the northern U.S. and Canada. They are exclusively insectivores so, no matter where they are or the time of year, they need an abundance of insects to fuel their activities.  This Nashville Warbler is hunting for tiny caterpillars among the flowers of a Black Willow tree (Salix nigra).  Black Willows bloom early in the spring making them good sources of food for newly emerging butterfly and moth larvae.  I find Black Willow particularly 'birdy'.  They are always worth stopping to see what may be foraging among the branches.

PIN CHERRY, (Prunus pensylvanica) supplies fruit in autumn for resident and migratory birds. 

Robin American_JF99302Find a native Pin Cherry full of ripening fruit and you will find a hotbed of avian activity. Robins were among the species feasting. They seemed to be somewhat selective, choosing the ripest ones. The fruits of Pin Cherry ripen in the fall, supplying food for many resident and migratory songbirds.  Here a common Robin (Turdus migratorious) selects the ripest cherries for consumption.

WINGED SUMAC (Rhus copallinum), a pollinator magnet for your yard. 

Brown-legged Wasp_J1F9315The Brown-legged Wasp, less commonly known as the Brown-legged Grass-carrying Wasp (Isodontia auripes), joins the nectaring festivities on the flowers of Winged Sumac. There was so much insect activity on these sumac blossoms it was difficult to stay focused on a given pollinator. Winged-sumac forms large flower heads with innumerable small yellow-green flowers. Winged Sumac is a colony-forming shrub that produces large flowerheads full of small nectar-producing blossoms that will rival the best herbaceous plants in their ability to attract and feed innumerable pollinators, especially our native solitary bees and wasps.

We look forward to seeing you at the Symposium!