Natural Elements, LLC

04/27/2026

“Pink lady’s slipper (Cypripedium acaule) is found throughout Virginia. The pink lady’s slipper is found in mature pine woodlands and is extremely hard to relocate.
Plants are only mature or healthy enough to bloom if they produce a pair of leaves. They are pollinated by bees.
According to USDA: In order to survive and reproduce, pink lady’s slipper interacts with a fungus in the soil from the Rhizoctonia genus. Generally, orchid seeds do not have food supplies inside them like most other kinds of seeds. Pink lady’s slipper seeds require threads of the fungus to break open the seed and attach them to it. The fungus will pass on food and nutrients to the pink lady’s slipper seed. When the lady’s slipper plant is older and producing most of its own nutrients, the fungus will extract nutrients from the orchid roots. This mutually beneficial relationship between the orchid and the fungus is known as “symbiosis” and is typical of almost all orchid species.” -

📸 Ashley Moulton, VNPS Publicity Chair during a annual monitoring site visit for Capital Region Land Conservancy in Hanover County, Virginia.

04/21/2026

Temperatures dropped below freezing throughout the area last night. Our low was 25 here at our house. This has caused widespread damage to the leaves of trees and other plants. Even our hemlocks and cypress took damage. Pictured here is an early morning photo of the frost on our ginkgo leaves, and that same ginkgo later this afternoon with the leaves dead and dropping off. It, and all the other damaged trees, will eventually push out new leaves but they are going to look rough for a bit. Perennial plants that suffered damage should also recover but any tender annuals are most likely dead.

04/21/2026

Pink Lady’s Slipper or Moccasin Flower (Cypripedium acaule) are in bloom! This orchid is native to eastern North America and it’s often found in sunny coniferous or oak forests with acidic soils. In our region, you can often find them blooming from around mid-April through May. You can find Pink Lady’s Slipper in the Piedmont, but it’s more common in the Blue Ridge of the Carolinas and Georgia. It becomes more common in the Piedmont of Virginia and further north. It’s also in the Great Lakes states.

The “slipper” or “moccasin” of Pink Lady’s Slipper refers to its pouched floral shape. A vertical slit on the front of the slipper allows bumblebees to enter. They’re attracted to the color and scent, but will find no nectar reward inside. So tricky!

Once trapped inside the slipper, the bumblebee is guided by floral hairs toward an exit hole at the bottom of the slipper. Before it exits, though, the bumblebee first brushes against the sticky female stigma, which picks up pollen on the bumblebee’s body from other Pink Lady’s Slippers it had previously visited. Closer to the exit hole, the bumblebee brushes against the pollen-bearing male anthers on its way out of the slipper. A pollen delivery and then a pick-up on its way out the door, how’s that for a cool pollen courier service!

Pink Lady’s Slippers should never be picked or transplanted from the wild. They have an extremely low transplant success due to their association with mycorrhizal fungi in the soil. I particularly like how these two Pink Lady’s Slippers appear to be “holding hands.”

Photo by K. Blake.

04/16/2026

I find all violets beautiful, but this one especially so.

04/15/2026

Today’s beauty

04/10/2026

Here are 12 common wildflowers you might find blooming in a yard or garden from late winter into spring. North American natives are marked with an N, the rest have been introduced from Europe or Asia.

As always, encourage the native plants to grow where you can, as those are the plants that native bees and other insects are best adapted for pollination. Many specialist bees rely on particular native plants for their survival. Also important is how native insects are adapted to the chemical defenses of native plants, allowing these insects to feed on the leaves of particular native plants.

How many of these plants have you seen this spring? 👀

Top Row (L to R): Bird’s-eye Speedwell (Veronica persica), Creeping Charlie or Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea), Johnny-jump-up or American Field Pansy (Viola bicolor), Purple Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum)

Middle Row (L to R): Common Chickweed (Stellaria media), Field Madder (Galium sherardia), White Clover (Trifolium repens), Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia)

Bottom Row (L to R): Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), Hop Clover or Hop Trefoil (Trifolium campestre), Mock Strawberry (Potentilla indica), Yellow Wood-sorrel (Oxalis spp.)

04/05/2026

03/24/2026

Today’s beauty- spring is arriving.

03/21/2026

Common Blue Violets (Viola sororia var. sororia) are a familiar sight this time of year. Also called Dooryard Violets and Wooly Blue Violets, they’re native to the eastern and central US and show up in yards, disturbed areas, and bottomland forests. Some people also plant them as a ground cover in woodland gardens.

These violets bloom from February to May, a time when small bees and flies occasionally visit them as a nectar source. However, most seed production doesn’t come from pollinators, but from small, self-pollinating (cleistogamous) flowers produced in summer. These self-pollinating flowers appear at ground level and they don’t even open!

There are several varieties of Viola sororia that differ in flower color. One variety found in the South is the us Confederate Violet (Viola sororia var. priceana). It often grows alongside the more typical purple form (V. sororia var. sororia). Long ago, someone apparently thought their light gray flowers resembled the uniform of a Confederate soldier, and the name stuck. Some folks also call it the ‘bi-colored form’ of the Common Blue Violet. Dark stripes on the bottom petals may act as a nectar guide for pollinators.

The caterpillars of several species of fritillary butterflies feed on the heart-shaped leaves of Common Blue Violets. People eat them too. The young leaves and petals can be placed in salads or candied. As always, though, you must be 100% confident in your identification before eating any wild plant.