The Flora of Virginia Project

06/18/2026

The region is home to countless native fruits that are somewhat overlooked in our commercialized food setting. Whether custardy pawpaws or tiny, sweet Virginia strawberries, there’s an incredible world of flavor surrounding us. - Style Weekly

“We haven’t really experimented with a lot of these flavors [recently],” says Will Nelson, owner of Will To Plant and board member of The Flora of Virginia Project. “[For people] who want to taste something new that’s right around the corner, this is the way to do it.”

“The Chimborazo Native Food Project is also a great place for locals to forage and educate themselves about these fruits in a more controlled setting. There are currently 12 intentionally planted native species, like Chickasaw plums, black raspberries, blueberries, black chokeberries, American persimmons and American elderberries. The project recently installed 20 muscadine grape vines and plans to expand the orchard with a few more pawpaw cultivars this fall.”

“ Agriberry, a Hanover-based fruit farm, offers black raspberries from early to mid-June at local markets. The fleeting variety, which the business has been growing since 2009, only produces for about two weeks in Central Virginia.”

Full Article Here: https://www.styleweekly.com/in-season-3/

06/18/2026

This is a great presentation by Flora of Virginia Project board member Eli Wright on the world of plant identification apps from the 2026 Prince William Wildflower Symposium. In summary, there are some pretty good AI apps, but they will give you AN answer, you still need to do some work to get to THE answer.

https://youtu.be/pC11zDphww4?si=S7sFlHXUM_x33tit

The Flora of Virginia App has in-depth data on all of Virginia's naturally occurring vascular plants. You'll learn if a plant is native, when and where it grows, when it blooms, what color, and a LOT more.

Our spring fund drive ends June 30. Please consider donating so we can Keep the Science Current. https://floraofvirginia.org/support/donate/.

06/18/2026

Looking forward to the book launch and events that follow. Check out Lara Call Gastinger Botanical Art calendar: https://www.perpetualjournal.com/calendar

06/17/2026

Just 2 WEEKS until our Spring fund drive ends. If you haven't donated, please consider supporting our work to migrate our database to a botanical data platform. This migration:
- allows us to update data with confidence thanks to custom editing tools
- requires review and approval of edits by an author before publication
- makes sharing data and adding new data sets easier.. and a lot more.

Like hummingbirds, the Flora of Virginia relies on generous contributions that allow us to deliver the most accurate, in-depth information on Virginia’s vascular plants in return. Donate today at floraofvirginia.org/donate.

06/16/2026

Meet Asplenium rhizophyllum 🌿 Walking Fern is one of Virginia’s most enchanting native pteridophytes and is a plant worth keeping an eye out for!

This native fern grows on moist, shaded, often mossy outcrops of subcalcareous, calcareous, and mafic rocks, and on shell-marl outcrops in the Coastal Plain, where it is especially common on limestone. It is frequent in the mountains, infrequent in the Piedmont, and very rare in the Coastal Plain.

Graphic Key:
• Plant Group: Ferns (Pteridophytes)
• Habitat: Moist place
• Substrate: Growing on rock or brick
• Dissection of blade: Simple (leaf not divided)
• Sporangium arrangement: Elongate
• Some veins reconnecting: Yes

Support our work by donating at floraofvirginia.org/donate 🌸

📷: Joey Thompson

06/15/2026

🌱 As the birthday of my book, A Perpetual Journal Practice by Timber Press approaches on June 23rd, I thought I’d offer a few FUN FACTS each day about my perpetual journal!

🌱 Did you know that my FIRST journal entry was just a scribble January 2001 of some blackberry canes and a note about fading bittersweet? I was in graduate school at Virginia Tech and spent a lot of time jogging along the Huckleberry Trail and observing nature. Good times!

🌱 At the time, I used a fat 01 micron pen (!) and the paper was 90 lb hot press Fabriano….different than my slim 005 micron and 140 lb hot press paper I use today.

06/14/2026

06/13/2026

06/13/2026

Come see us today at the Sail Yorktown Festival and VA250 Celebration at the Historic Rivers chapter of the Virginia Master Naturalist Program. Colonist John Clayton’s collections were published as Flora Virginica in the Netherlands in the 18th century, an early New World flora that inspires our work today.