The Nature Foundation at Wintergreen exists to foster understanding and appreciation of the natural and cultural heritage of the Blue Ridge Mountains – including the native plants that populate the forest. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
It's a cool, rainy day in late February near the top of Devil's Knob, but the first sprouts of spring are already popping up in trays inside the Trillium House at Wintergreen Resort. Volunteers with the Nature Foundation have carefully collected, stored, and sown the seeds of narrowleaf mountain mint, bushy aster, coreopsis, and dozens of other native plant species.
Head Volunteer Abigail James shows me around.
ABIGAIL JAMES: And so, for the past three weeks we've been putting seeds in soil [opens seed tray] and you have – these were actually planted last week! It's wild bergamot, and as I told somebody, you could put it on a flip-flop and it would grow! … But we're trying to do it a little scientific here, because we're not in the business of selling plants. We're in the business of helping people understand what grows up here.
The native plant program aims to conserve the flora that naturally inhabits Wintergreen. A team of about 30 volunteers, many of whom are retired and live at the resort year-round, document how different species are best propagated and hold plant sales that attract gardeners from as far away as Richmond.
JAMES: [rustling papers] So this is last year's – this is last year's list. So I know how we did it, how long it took them to germinate, how good the germination was, and then what happened when they went outdoors.
James pulls out one of this year's experiments – shallow trays of tiny green buds clustered in a bed of soil.
JAMES: The little spores on the back of leaves of ferns are asexual. That's what you get when they fall on the ground – that's called a prothallium. It's actually a little tiny leaf, a single leaf, and out of that will grow a little fruiting body that is the sexual part. And if it finds another one, I'll get ferns!
The volunteers also tend a glass greenhouse at the base of the mountain, filled with trays and pots of woody shrubs and tree starts. Older saplings line the mulch paths outside.
JAMES: [birds singing outside] … and another row of shrubby St. John's Wort. … Wild hydrangea – not like the big hydrangeas you're usually used to. As you can see, the flowers are similar, but they're smaller. … Those are alders, with the catkins that are hanging down.
MICHELLE MAGGIORE: Almost everything we grow are local phenotypes, so the seeds and plants are cultivated from things within less than 50 miles, in most cases.
Michelle Maggiore is the foundation's greenhouse and shop coordinator. In recent weeks, she's been propagating witch hazel, swamp azalea, and sourwood from cuttings.
MAGGIORE: Oh, and just a few days ago I did … prairie willow, and they plan to plant some of those at Mount Vernon, too, so we do help with other areas that are trying to find certain native plants.
They also have pots of the resort's namesake – wintergreen, also known as eastern teaberry – a pretty groundcover with short, elliptical leaves. But the species doesn't actually grow in that spot on the mountains.
JAMES: But go five miles down the parkway – all over the place! It's the different soil. It's the rock. We're on Catoctin greenstone here, and it is a little too basic for these. They really need acid.
According to an article from the College of William and Mary, the Catoctin Formation is characterized by blue-green rocks that were created by ancient lava flows. It underlies much of the Blue Ridge. That geology, plus the resort's high elevation, create a unique little biome.
JAMES: People are really funny. They'll come and say, you know, "do you sell redbuds?" No, because they won't bloom up here – too high. Go over 3,000 feet, you can't have it. And we don't grow the sort of typical native dogwoods because they will bloom up here, but they don't really like it. So we grow alternate-leaf dogwood.
The native plant crew also maintains three gardens around the resort. Their work not only has scientific and landscaping value, but also provides food for the myriad of wildlife and bugs that call Wintergreen home.
MAGGIORE: When you plant things that just look beautiful but they aren't native, you're providing a biological desert. It's like coming to a restaurant but there's nothing to eat. Or, they may have something they can nibble on, but it's not going to sustain the rest of their whole growth cycle. And so that's what I think is so important about the native propagation program.
The Nature Foundation will hold plant sales on April 20th and June 15th, as well as a Wildflower Symposium with native plant experts from May 17th to 19th.
