Nature Forward

GreenKids got an award!

Jeff Chandler, our GreenKids Director, and Gina Ghertner, our lead GreenKids Educator, received Flower Hill Elementary's Patti Boccabello Award for Excellence. This award is given to individuals who consistently dedicate their time and effort to the Flower Hill community. Jeff and Gina helped Flower Hill become a Maryland Green School, leading programs and field trips for every grade. Notably, GreenKids led Salad Science for second graders and supported Flower Hill's Green Team in planting the school's first pollinator garden.

In our Spring 2026 Naturalist Quarterly, we published a story about Melissa King, Flower Hill's media specialist and Maryland's first school librarian to complete the Sustainable Library Certification Program. Read it on page 20 of our quarterly, linked in our bio!

And happy summer to all our MCPS students!

What’s at Woodend this Wednesday? We have many white flowers in bloom around our garden including buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), narrowleaf mountain mint (Pycnantheum canadensis), and wild hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens). These pollinator powerhouses have been putting on a show!

Buttonbush has round flowers and can grow in a variety of soils. It also tolerates very moist conditions and can be found along riverbanks. In this habitat, its seeds provide an important food source for waterfowls.

Elderberry flowers form in clusters and make way for black fruits in the late summer to early fall. These fruits are enjoyed by wildlife including foxes, raccoons, squirrels, and a variety of birds. It also prefers moisture and can be planted alongside buttonbush.

Narrow-leaf Mountain mint sports small, delicate white flowers. It blooms through much of the summer, making it incredibly valuable as a pollinator hub. It can tolerate very dry, sunny conditions in a variety of soils. All parts of the plant have a mint aroma.

Wild hydrangeas have clusters that can contain more than 100 flowers. This particular plant has seen the most pollinator activity recently. It grows in a variety of conditions from moist to dry but is typically shaded. It is a hardy plant that grows from New England to Florida.



Image 1: buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

Image 2: elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)

Image 3: narrowleaf mountain mint (Pycnantheum canadensis)

Image 4: wild hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens)

Video: wild hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens)

One last Woodend After Dark thank you to our event sponsors!

Support from Mullins PC, Northern Trust Careers, Moby Dick House of Kabob, and Old Dominion National Bank made our summer gala possible! Thank you for making Woodend After Dark a night to remember and supporting our vital mission work in environmental education, habitat restoration, and conservation advocacy across the Capital Region.

Thank you to our Woodend After Dark auction sponsors who provided items for our silent auction!

Attendees bid on luxury getaway rentals, summer experiences, and beautifully curated themed gift baskets, all thanks to our auction sponsors.

We sold all 32 baskets🥂 Thank you for supporting our vital nature education, restoration, and conservation mission work!

We appreciate your generosity Backyard Bounty Toscana Market Total Wine & More DC K-Town Pit Que Patagonia DC Walsh Family Wine Roda REI Waterfront Partnership Ace Hardware Founding Farmers Glenstone Museum Georgetown Events Hospitality Group Melanie Choukas-Bradley Woodhouse Spa - North Bethesda Washington Nationals Oaki Black Ankle Vineyards Atlas Brew Works Tenth Ward Distilling Company Juno Bakery & Café Kendra Scott Ritual Chocolate Call Your Mother The Avalon Theatre Author. Explorer. Photographer. All Fired Up | Est. 2004

A BIG thank you to our Woodend After Dark partners, Owl Moon Raptor Center and Calluna Flower Truck!

Owl Moon Raptor Center brought along one of their magnificent birds of prey for attendees to meet up close 🦉 and Calluna Flower Truck provided gorgeous, locally sourced flowers in their signature 1951 pickup truck for participants to build their own custom bouquets. Thank you both for making Woodend After Dark a unique and memorable night!

Thank you Corcoran Caterers for preparing and serving delicious food and drinks at Woodend After Dark🌙🥂

We had a wonderful night celebrating our mission of connecting people and nature, fueled by tequila lime shrimp, signature cocktails, tasty entrees, and an array of desserts. We could not have pulled off this successful event with Corcoran Caterers generously providing catering and staff!

Welcome back to another What’s at Woodend Wednesday! Today we will be looking at our native Aralias and our non-native Aralias, learning how to distinguish them, as well as seeing how insects treat these species very differently, and why that may be!

First up, our non-native Aralia elata or Japanese angelica tree. We’ve pruned this guy back a couple times, but it just loves to grow! If we look at the underside of its leaves, we see that the veins go all the way out to the perimeter.

Our native Aralia spinosa or devil's walking stick, on the other hand, have veins that sort of taper off or fade before they get to the outside of their leaves.

If you look closely, our native Aralias are absolutely covered in insects. Ants, aphids, beetles, Oh My! This might be because many pest populations co-evolve with native plants. Insects get used to feeding on these native species and may not recognize non-native species as suitable hosts. Native plants also grow in the right form and condition and tend to be more attractive to abundant insect species.

Non-native plant species are much less likely to be a part of the native insect and pest food web.

Are your Aralia plants native or non-native? 🌿🌱🌿. (Pictured in order: Non-native, Native, Native)