Cultivate Nature

05/26/2025

How many types of floras will we learn in a lifetime? Cultivate Nature is restructuring for several new conditions. A whole new flora? I thought that in moving from northern Virginia to Lower Michigan there would be a new flora to learn. How is it that most plants native to the Mid-Atlantic North America are also native to the Great Lakes region?...

How many types of floras will we learn in a lifetime? Cultivate Nature is restructuring for several new conditions. A whole new flora? I thought that in moving from northern Virginia to Lower Michi…

04/06/2024

You have decided you would like less lawn and more native plants. Now what? What are the best native plants to replace what you have? I like to start from the beginning. Let nature tell us what naturally grows there. First, find out which natural ecosystems your land naturally hosts. For example, a lot of us in Great Falls live on what use to be a mesic (basic soils instead of acidic) mixed-hardwood forest dominated by beeches, tulip poplar, American hollies, and white oaks....

You have decided you would like less lawn and more native plants. Now what? What are the best native plants to replace what you have? I like to start from the beginning. Let nature tell us what nat…

02/06/2024

Speaker: Meghan M. McGinty, PhD, Botanist and Ecologist

What:
Free workshop!
Learn how to Cultivate Nature Year-Round.
This will be a hands-on, informative workshop. We will discuss wildlife life-cycles as related to Virginia native plants and how we can enhance nature’s cycles year-round in our own yards. Participants will develop specific steps for every season to conserve biodiversity and cultivate nature.

When:
Sunday, March 10th at 1pm until 3pm.

Where:
Old Forestville Schoolhouse
9812 Georgetown Pike
Great Falls, VA 22066

How:
This event is free and open to the public thanks to sponsorship by the Great Falls Garden Club. We strongly encourage the participation of families and children.

Why:
This is a community outreach effort to educate the families of Great Falls on how to cultivate nature in their yards. This is also an event to inform the local community of the 2024 Youth Native Habitat Garden Grant. The grant application window opens on February 15, 2024 with an April
15th, 2024 deadline for submission and can be found online at gfgardenclub.org

Contact:
[email protected]

07/08/2023

6 ways you can protect wildlife today! 1- Spray only water- no chemicals. 2- Leave the stems, leaves, and seed heads. 3- Turn off outdoor lights at night. 4- Remove invasive plants. 5- Put stickers or designs in windows to avoid bird collisions. 6- Mow higher and less often, avoid mowing in the evening.

6 ways you can protect wildlife today! 1- Spray only water- no chemicals. 2- Leave the stems, leaves, and seed heads. 3- Turn off outdoor lights at night. 4- Remove invasive plants. 5- Put stickers…

07/07/2023

Selectively w**ding to conserve biodiversity. Nature is constantly trying to rewild and regenerate. To cultivate nature, we can manage the regrowth. Nature will do its best to reproduce genetically diverse and healthy populations of native species. We just have to selectively w**d to make room and encourage the native plants. What is selective w**ding? Basically put- it is taking advantage of what is already growing on the land....

Selectively w**ding to conserve biodiversity. Nature is constantly trying to rewild and regenerate. To cultivate nature, we can manage the regrowth. Nature will do its best to reproduce genetically…

10/31/2014

Let the observations commence!

15 Things to Observe Before Starting your Permaculture Design 0 Spread the love When you first start considering turning a site into a permaculture garden, you need to do a thorough analysis of the plot. You need to get to know the land, the organisms that live on it and the influences that act upon…

10/28/2014

Cultivate Nature is about to endeavor to restore over 3 acres of land in Great Falls, Virginia. It will be posting photos, strategies, plans etc throughout the multi-year process. Stay tuned for updates here!

08/21/2013

A great tool!
"...for a list of plants that suit your specific needs, fill in the fields below."

The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation

08/21/2013

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, the USDA Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) are pleased to announce two upcoming Pollinator Conservation Planning Short Courses in Virginia.

08/21/2013

Sassafras albidum- Lauraceae

USA (AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV), CAN (ON)

08/21/2013

Locally, to learn more about trees and services provided by Fairfax County go to Department of Urban Forestry.

Trees... needed shade, a thing of beauty, a perch for a bird, and a challenge to deal with those leaves in the fall! This is what some people in our region think of when they think about trees, unless they slow down and take a closer look. In Fairfax County and...

04/22/2013

"...a new kind of urban planting, one with incredible public appeal — it is colorful but somehow also wild looking; there is plenty of seasonal change although the plantings are permanent, and they pull in urban wildlife too...part of a movement that seeks to use long-lived, perennial plants, which need minimal management."

Planting pioneer Piet Oudolf’s home in Nantucket features a garden designed as if nature created it.