🌿Southeastern Virginian Native Plants

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🌿Why Plant Native? 

Native plants are more than beautiful additions to a garden. This is especially important in Hampton Roads, where the ecosystem and civilization meet during every tide and heavy rain. 

A thoughtfully planted yard can provide:

  • 🌿Food for native bees and other pollinators

  • 🌿Host plants for butterflies and caterpillars

  • 🌿Seeds, berries and shelter for birds

  • 🌿Opportunities to capture and slow stormwater

  • 🌿Greater biodiversity in our neighborhoods

  • 🌿Habitat that supports local wildlife

  • 🌿Landscapes better suited to local environmental conditions

But choosing native plants isn't about turning every yard into a wilderness.

It's about making thoughtful choices—one plant, one garden, and one neighborhood at a time.

Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) & Wild Bergamot / Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa)

🌿Native Plant Spotlights: 

🌿Cardinal Flower: The Late-Summer Native That Brings Hummingbirds to Your Norfolk Yard

When summer starts winding down, many gardens begin to lose their color. But there’s one native plant that is just getting started — and if you want to attract hummingbirds to your Norfolk yard, it deserves your attention.

Meet Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis).

With tall spikes of brilliant scarlet-red flowers, Cardinal Flower is one of those plants that stops you in your tracks. And those red blooms aren't just beautiful to us — they're especially attractive to hummingbirds.

For a Norfolk native garden, it's a beautiful way to add late-summer color while creating habitat for local wildlife.

Read the full article here

🌿 Native Milkweed: A Little Southern VA Welcome for Monarchs

There’s something mighty special about seeing a monarch butterfly float through a summer garden.

One minute, you're watering the flowers or pulling a few weeds, and the next, there she is—those beautiful orange wings catching the afternoon sun.

Here in Hampton Roads, we're fortunate to be part of the monarchs' incredible journey. And one of the sweetest things we can do to welcome them is simple:

Plant milkweed. 🦋

Milkweed isn't just another pretty flower in the garden. It is the host plant monarch caterpillars need to survive.

Think of it as the monarch nursery.

Read the full article here.

🌿 Native Plant Spotlight: Yaupon Holly

 

Ilex vomitoria — The Native Holly That Can Put a Little Pep in Your Step

 

 

What if one of the most useful plants for a Norfolk landscape was already growing naturally in our region?

Meet Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria) — a beautiful evergreen native that can handle heat, drought, salt, clay, occasional flooding, and the challenges of an urban landscape. And it has one especially surprising claim to fame:

Yaupon is the only known plant native to North America that naturally contains caffeine.

Yes, that holly in the landscape can also make tea. A tea that is rich in polyphenols, making brews made from the plant a potent source of antioxidants.

Read the full article here. 

🌿Swamp Rose-mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos): Big Blooms for Butterflies, Bees, and Beautiful Backyards

If you've ever driven past a marsh in the middle of summer and spotted giant white or blush-pink blooms swaying in the breeze, chances are you've met Swamp Rose-mallow. This stunning native hibiscus puts on one of the biggest flower shows you'll find in Virginia, and once it starts blooming, it's hard to look anywhere else.

Don't let its delicate flowers fool you. Swamp Rose-mallow is a tough native perennial that thrives in our hot, humid summers and doesn't mind getting its feet wet. Whether you're planting around a rain garden, pond, low spot, or simply looking for a showstopper in your flower bed, this beauty delivers season after season.

Read the full article here. 

🌿The Wild Beauty of Native Passion Flower in Coastal VA Gardens

If you’re gardening here in Norfolk and Tidewater Virginia, you may be delighted to know we’re lucky enough to have two beautiful native passionflower vines that naturally call this region home.

The most well-known is the Purple Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), often lovingly called “maypop.” This one is the showstopper. In summer, it sends out large, intricate blooms in soft lavender and white that look almost too fancy to be wild. It thrives right here in our sandy coastal soils, along roadsides and sunny edges, and when it’s happy, it may even offer up its unique yellow-orange fruit that makes a little “pop” when crushed—hence the name.

Alongside it grows the quieter, more delicate Yellow Passionflower (Passiflora lutea). This one tends to tuck itself into shadier woodland edges and garden corners. Its blooms are smaller and greenish-yellow, with finely divided leaves that give it a soft, airy look. It may be subtle, but it plays an important role in our local ecosystem, producing small berries and supporting native wildlife.

Both of these native vines are especially treasured in our area because they serve as host plants for several beautiful butterflies, including the Gulf Fritillary, Variegated Fritillary, and Zebra Longwing. If you’ve ever wanted a garden that feels alive with movement and purpose, planting native passionflower is one of the sweetest ways to do it—right here in coastal Virginia.

Read the full article here. 

🌿Sassafras: From Jamestown Export to Tea, Filé, and Root Beer

Long before sassafras became something we might notice along a woodland trail, it was one of the most valuable plants in early colonial America.

Today, we know sassafras for its unmistakable fragrance, mitten-shaped leaves, brilliant fall color, and its connection to old-fashioned root beer. In Louisiana and the Gulf South, its dried leaves became filé, an important ingredient in Creole and Cajun cooking.

But sassafras also has a remarkable place in the story of Jamestown.

Read the full article.

🌿Muscadine Grapes: A Native Fruit for the Tidewater Garden

When you think about growing fruit in your backyard, grapes might not be the first thing that comes to mind. But here in Tidewater Virginia, there is a grape that feels right at home: muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia).

With thick-skinned, sweet fruit, vigorous vines, and a long history in the Southeast, muscadines can be a wonderful addition to a Norfolk-area landscape — especially when you have a sturdy fence, arbor, or trellis where they can spread.

And unlike many of the plants we grow simply because they look pretty, muscadines can provide something extra: food and habitat for wildlife.

Read the full article here. 

🌿Southeastern VA Native Nectar Plants for Hummingbirds & Monarchs

Create a garden that feeds pollinators from spring through fall

There is something special about watching a Ruby-throated Hummingbird hover over a flower or seeing a monarch butterfly drift through a Norfolk garden.

The good news is that you don't need a huge property—or a perfectly manicured landscape—to help them.

By planting native flowers that provide nectar throughout the growing season, you can turn your yard into a small but meaningful source of food and habitat for hummingbirds, monarchs, bees, butterflies and other pollinators. 

Read the full article here. 

🌿Tidewater Native Plants That Thrive Near the Saltwater Coast of the Chesapeake Bay

If you garden near the Chesapeake Bay, Elizabeth River, Lafayette River, Eastern Branch, or another tidal waterway, you already know that coastal gardening comes with a few extra challenges.

Salt spray.
Strong winds.
Sandy or compacted soil.
Occasional flooding.
Storm surge.
And, in some areas, salty or brackish water reaching places where it normally doesn't.

The good news? There are beautiful native plants that are naturally adapted to these conditions.

Choosing the right native plants for the right coastal conditions can create a garden that is not only beautiful, but also helps support pollinators, wildlife, soil stability, and a healthier Chesapeake Bay.

Read the full article here. 

🌿Native Plant Resources

🌿South Eastern VA Native Plant Guide

Helpful Native Plant Resources

Looking for more Virginia-native plant information? The Virginia Native Plant Society has an excellent free guide with native trees, shrubs, perennials, grasses, and ferns suitable for Virginia landscapes.

Resource provided by the Virginia Native Plant Society. All rights remain with the original publisher.

🌿Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping

The guide, from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, explains why native plants matter — from providing food and shelter for wildlife to reducing the need for watering, fertilizer and pesticides once plants are established. It even discusses using native plants to help with drainage, erosion and stormwater runoff. All rights remain with the original publisher. 

🌿What About Invasives?

Invasive plants can look beautiful—but they can cause big problems.

Invasive species can spread quickly, crowd out native plants, reduce habitat for local wildlife, and disrupt the ecosystems our region depends on. In Hampton Roads, choosing native plants instead can help support pollinators, birds, and other wildlife while creating a healthier, more resilient landscape. 

Before adding a new plant to your yard, take a moment to ask: Is it native to our region, and could it become invasive? 🌱

Small choices in our own yards can make a big difference for the larger ecosystem. If you just must have an invasive plant, keep it as an indoor plant. Even as a potted outside plant, many invasive plants can still easily spread. 

🌿Guide to Invasive Plant Management

Here are some great tips to managing invasive plants on your private property. 

Resource provided by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. All rights remain with the original publisher.

🌿Invasive Plant List

Trying to see which plants on your property are invasive species? Check the list! 

Resource provided by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and Virginia Native Plant Society. All rights remain with the original publisher.