VNPS 2009 Annual Meeting

The Virginia Native Plant Society announces its 2009 ANNUAL MEETING to be held September 25, 26 and 27th in Salem, Virginia.

Hosts: Blue Ridge Wildflower Society and the New River Chapter of VNPS.

Please click on 'See State Newsletters' below for a full schedule, motel information and registration form. If you cannot attend, please send the proxy form to the office so that we can be sure our election is valid. In case the first motel fills, rooms have been added at a second motel. Please check with the office if you need information about this or any aspect of the program.

Friday evening Peter Heus, owner of Enchanters Garden nursery and native plant propagation professional is our speaker. After the Saturday banquet, our nationally known speaker will be Douglas Tallamy, author of "Bringing Nature Home." There will be a full day of field trips on Saturday, and some half day trips and suggestions for trips on your own for Sunday. The Board of Directors will meet on Sunday morning.

The business meeting will be held prior to the evening's featured speaker to conduct the election of VNPS Board members and to briefly highlight VNPS and the year's accomplishments. A silent auction will be held to benefit the Flora of Virginia Project. The "Flora of Virginia" is to be published in 2012 after a 250 year germination period since "Flora Virginica," was published in mid-1700s based on the herbarium of John Clayton by Gronovius in the Netherlands.

SEE CROW'S NEST BY WATER AND LAND

Due to weather, we have rescheduled the Crow's Nest field trip for 

Sunday, June 21, 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM. Here is the announcement again.

If you were unable to come on the previous date, here is another chance!

New Crow's Nest Trip Date:  Sunday, June 21, 2009

Hal Wiggins will lead a VNPS trip to the new Crow's Nest Natural Area Preserve.  Find information about the preserve at:

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/natural_area_preserves/crowsnest.shtml

Participants will meet at the headquarters of a Fredricksburg river outfitter.  While there, Hal will make a presentation and all will be outfitted with personal floatation devices. From there, we will travel to Potomac Creek for a tidal/flatwater paddle to Crow's Nest.  We will walk part of the preserve.

The trip will be an all day adventure. We will meet at 9:30 am in Fredericksburg and return there at about 5 pm. Hal Wiggins is a member of VNPS, long time advocate for Crow's Nest and author of Virginia Native Plants and A Field Guide to Crow's Nest.  This field trip is a special opportunity to visit the area with a guide who has explored it for many years.

The trip cost is $25, which covers canoes, transport and a donation.

Limit 18 people.  Rain or shine, except for severe weather.

Reservations necessary due to the canoe rental and must be made by June 15.

If you must cancel, we will try to arrange to transfer your spot if we have a wait list.

Please reserve by sending your check to: 

VNPS Field Trips, 400 Blandy Farm Lane #2, Boyce, VA 22620.

Note that the office is now available to take credit card payments by phone.

Visit Virginia's Mountains

Chris Ludwig, chief biologist with the Virginia Natural Heritage Program, gave a program for us at our March workshop about places to see plants in the mountains of Virginia. He has generously sent us copies of his program that are attached here. There are two versions - the first is the text with no pictures (252K) and the second has most of the pictures attached (much bigger file, 8.9MB). If you travel in Virginia this summer, this may be information you can use. Thank you Chris!

highland-text.pdf

highland-Ludwig.pdf

VNPS Southwest Virginia Trip

Trip Dates: Sunday May 10 to Saturday May 16, 2009

Join VNPS on an excursion to the southern Ridge and Valley of Virginia, a place of high mountains and diverse valleys. We will visit National Forests and Recreation Areas, Natural Area Preserves and a State Park, and will see some of our tallest mountains and a natural limestone tunnel. The Southern Appalachians are a hotspot of biological diversity, and our tour will include parts of the Clinch River drainage, noted for diversity of aquatic species and home to state and globally rare plants and habitats.

Although in mountainous terrain, the hikes will be very moderately paced and will focus on the plant life. However, some hikes will be a few miles in length at high altitude, so some physical stamina is necessary. Naturalist led tours in the morning to early afternoon will be followed by leisurely explorations later in the day. 

We will spend half of the week in Abingdon and half in Big Stone Gap. Cost of the trip is $500, which includes a $100 donation to VNPS.  Price includes lodging (2 people per room), tours and lunches. Travel to and from the trip is on your own. We will do our best to arrange carpools from our lodgings to the sites each day to minimize fuel use and parking needs.

There are more places to visit than we can see in a week, but if you extend your trip we will have information about some of the places we have not been able to schedule. Be aware that the racetrack in Bristol can make reservations scarce.

Please reserve by sending a deposit of $100 by Monday, March 23 to 

VNPS SWVA Trip, 400 Blandy Farm Lane #2, Boyce, VA 22620. 

Full payment is due by April 24, due to required cancellation notices for rooms.  You may choose to pay the entire fee as deposit.

More information: 

Shirley Gay at shirleywg@verizon.net or 

Sally Anderson at rccsca@comcast.net

SEE CROW'S NEST BY WATER AND LAND

Crow's Nest Trip Date:  Sunday, May 3, 2009

Hal Wiggins will lead a VNPS trip to the new Crow's Nest Natural Area Preserve.  Find information about the preserve at:

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/natural_area_preserves/crowsnest.shtml

Participants will meet at the headquarters of a Fredricksburg river outfitter.  While there, Hal will make a presentation and all will be outfitted with personal floatation devices. From there, we will travel to Potomac Creek for a tidal/flatwater paddle to Crow's Nest.  We will walk part of the preserve.

The trip will be an all day adventure. We will meet at 9:30 am in Fredericksburg and return there at about 5 pm. Hal Wiggins is a member of VNPS, long time advocate for Crow's Nest and author of Virginia Native Plants and A Field Guide to Crow's Nest.  This field trip is a special opportunity to visit the area with a guide who has explored it for many years.

The trip cost is $25, which covers canoes, transport and a donation.

Limit 18 people.  Rain or shine, except for severe weather.

Reservations necessary due to the canoe rental and must be made by April 24.

If you must cancel, we will try to arrange to transfer your spot if we have a wait list.

Please reserve by sending your check to: 

VNPS Field Trips, 400 Blandy Farm Lane #2, Boyce, VA 22620.

VNPS Annual Workshop

Save the date for this year's Annual Workshop

The Workshop is now full. We are sorry if we have not been able to accommodate you. 

Please contact the office if you are registered and cannot attend, vnpsofc@shentel.net 

High Mountain Flora

Saturday March 7, 2009

9:15  am to 3:15 pm

Gottwald Center for the Sciences

University of Richmond

Keynote speaker:  Elizabeth Byers, West Virginia Natural Heritage Program

Additional speakers are Chris Ludwig, Virginia Natural Heritage Program; Tom Wiebolt of Virginia Tech's Massey Herbarium; Laura Neale, President of the Virginia Wilderness Committee.

Here is a PDF of the Workshop Brochure:

WKSHbrochure.pdf

Visit the BRUCE PENINSULA with VNPS

Location: Ontario, Canada. The Bruce Peninsula lies between Lake Huron
and Georgian Bay, northwest of Toronto.

For a location map cut and paste this url:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Toronto,+Ontario&sll=47.15984,-82.045898&sspn=13.690395,25.620117&ie=UTF8&ll=43.953282,-80.892334&spn=3.622336,6.405029&z=7

Trip Dates: June 6-13, 2009**(see note below)

Leader: Dr. Stanwyn Shetler, Curator of Botany Emeritus, Smithsonian
Institution

We will stay at Wildwood Resort Lodge on the shore of Lake Huron, and will carpool to see fens, bogs, rich woods, alvars (limestone pavements) and several lakeside habitats. The trip will include a boat trip to Flowerpot Island. The flora is rich in orchids, ferns and many other northern and some western wildflower species. There is opportunity for birdwatching and photography too. Meals at the lodge are included, and vegetarian options are offered. Participants are responsible for travel to and from Wildwood Lodge.

Cost of the trip is $1050.00 and includes a donation to VNPS.
Send your $250 deposit by January 31, 2009 to reserve your space.
(Mail to: VNPS Bruce Trip, 400 Blandy Farm Lane, #2, Boyce, VA 22620)

More information: Sally Anderson, rccsca@comcast.net, or 540-722-3072
**My apologies for publishing an incorrect date last week. This is the correct week.

VNPS Gift ideas for friends, students, or family

VNPS GIFT MEMBERSHIP
A holiday gift idea of extraordinary pleasure and importance!
Your gift of a membership to the Virginia Native Plant Society would enrich the life of a friend - or a young botanist or ecologist, or Natural Resources Manager of a local park, woodland, forest or refuge. Mail the form on this website (click Join VNPS), or contact Karen York in our office at vnpsofc@shentel.net or call 540-837-1600. Notice of your gift will be sent to your recipient. If time is short for mailing, it can be sent by e-mail.

T-SHIRTS with wildflower artwork of Anita Cooper, Shenandoah Chapter artist (photo above) $15 per shirt ($3 shipping/handling) Available in Forest green, Eggplant and Brown. Small choices limited, but currently all available. Medium, Large and XL available in all colors.

NOTE PADS VNPS Note Pads with Anita’s colorful wildflower artwork border. $4 per pad, 3 for $10, please contact VNPS office for shipping price, vnpsofc@shentel.net or 540-837-1600.

BOOKS

FINDING WILDFLOWERS IN THE WASHINGTON BALTIMORE AREA Cris Fleming, Marion Lobstein & Barbara Tufty, Johns Hopkins University Press. Maps and line drawings. $25 at Amazon.com

THE VIRGINIA NATURALIST John Trott, illustrated by Nicky Staunton Essays from 1927-2000, originally published in the Fauquier Times Democrat. Published by Piedmont Chapter of VNPS with the Middleburg Garden Club. Line drawings. 2nd Printing. $24 ($20 + $4 shipping/handling ) VNPS Office vnpsofc@shentel.net 400 Blandy Farm Lane, #2 Boyce VA 22620 or 540-837-1600

THRILLING TRILLIES AND CAPTIVATING CATTAILS Elwood Fisher Ethnobotanical Essays of Mid-Appalachia Contact bowlenchris@comcast.net $15 ($10 + shipping/handling) Line drawings

VIRGINIA NATIVE PLANTS Hal Wiggins A Short Course on Plant Taxonomy to Describe the Dominant Flowering Plants in the Fredericksburg Area, by Hal Wiggins, Environmental Scientist with the Regulatory Program, US Army Corps of Engineers. Color photographs Amazon.com or http://stores.lulu.com/halwiggins $24.57 Full color - Paperback

A FIELD GUIDE TO CROWS NEST Hal Wiggins http://stores.lulu.com/halwiggins $33 Full Color Paperback $10 Black & White Paperback "A Field Guide to Crow's Nest" takes you on an incredible journey to a land that time has forgotten. Hal Wiggins has worked for over 13 years to document, study, advocate and protect over 1800 acres of a unique peninsula in Stafford County, Virginia that is surrounded by a freshwater, tidal estuary. This is a history of Crow's Nest, from its beginnings millions of years in the past, through Colonial America, the Civil War and the efforts to save it today.

RESERVE NOW VNPS Annual Meeting

Reservations for the Courtyard by Marriott for our reserved annual meeting rooms must be made before August 29, so get your room now! 703-751-4510

Annual meeting brochure and registration form:
BrochureAnnMt.pdf
AnMtRegForm.pdf