By Wendy Dorsey

You may have noticed that lately there’s a buzz about native plants. Maybe you read an article or a post on Facebook, an advertisement for a native plant sale, or attended a presentation. In all of these instances, the message was the same. Putting native plants in our yards is a beneficial thing. There are many reasons why this is true.

Native plants are especially adapted to local temperatures, rainfall, and soil. With regards to temperature, they can make it through the coldest winter freezes and hot, dry summers — like the one we had last year.

I didn’t water most of the established (more than one full year in the ground) natives in my garden during the drought. I didn’t lose any! This has to do with the fact that these plants are able to survive on the amount of rainfall our region receives, even through the challenging extremes.

Many native plants have longer roots than non-natives. Because of this, they are able to reach water that the others cannot. Native plants are easier to maintain and conserve water. Our soil is most often clay, or clay dominant, but some land is rocky with poor soil. Others have wet spots to contend with. The good news is that there are native plants that want to live in each of the situations. Gardeners do not always have to amend their soil, it’s easier to select the species that will be happy with what you’ve got.

In order to survive, wildlife needs shelter and food sources. Native plants provide both of those. It is important that we put native plants in our yards to begin to counter the habitat loss that has been occurring in our country. The USDA Forest Service estimates 6,000 acres of open space are lost each day, a rate of 4 acres per minute. This includes forests, meadows, and wetlands. The wildlife is left without a place to live and the plants that sustained them. 

Planting native protects biodiversity 

Biodiversity is all the different kinds of life you’ll find in one area — the variety of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms like bacteria. Native plants and insects began coevolving millions of years ago. In this process of slowly changing and adapting to each other over time, many specialized relationships were formed. An example from our ecosystem is the monarch butterfly and milkweed. Animals and most insects avoid eating milkweed because of the toxins they contain. Monarch butterflies, however, lay their eggs on plants in the milkweed family. They do this because these are the only plants their caterpillars eat. The toxins do not bother the monarch caterpillars, but do help them survive by making them poisonous to predators. If we do not have milkweed, we do not have monarchs. 

All kinds of caterpillars are crucial to keeping the balance in our ecosystem, not just the poster-child monarchs that are so wonderful to behold. The magnificent white oak tree hosts 952 caterpillar species, the most of all U.S. native trees. It’s easy to overlook this important fact, or maybe to even consider it a problem. Did you know that it takes 350 to 570 caterpillars every day to keep one nest of baby chickadees fed? To raise them until they are out of the nest, it takes between 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars! Now consider that it is not just chickadees, but rather 96 percent of birds that raise their young on the same food source. Without host plants like white oak, we won’t have caterpillars and without caterpillars, we won’t have birds. Native plants improve the stability and resilience of an ecosystem.

Native plants support a healthy environment

They are far less susceptible to pests and diseases, and do not require pesticides and fertilizers. Money and time are saved by not having to purchase or apply them.  Keeping chemical treatments out of our yards is better for us and all of the creatures that live in our ecosystem. Invasive plants, like autumn olive or English ivy are non-native plants that outcompete our native ones. In other words, they can take over an area, essentially displacing our local flora and the life forms that interact with them. 

A healthy environment is one that also supports human life. Native flowers provide pollen and nectar for our native bees, wasps, flies and birds. There are specialized relationships between flower and pollinator. A great example is the hummingbird, with its long narrow beak. It is able to get the nectar from very long, tubular flowers. While doing this, the pollen gets on its beak and head and some of it will brush onto the next flower it visits. It is estimated that every 1 out of 3 bites of food exists because of insect and animal pollinators. 

I encourage people to plant natives, flowers, shrubs, and trees, in their yards for all of the above reasons and more. What is most important is that every little bit matters. You don’t have to do a drastic, all-at-once makeover to your yard or property in order to make a difference. Start by adding one plant to your yard and encourage someone else to do so, too.Wendy Dorsey is the owner of Yellow House Natives in Berryville.

By John Kei

The idea for an Earth Day event is simple – as is the mission of the Clarke County Litter Committee: Keep Clarke County Clean.

Ashley Harrison, who chairs the committee, has taken the lead for an Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 20. “We hope to raise awareness of current litter issues and our efforts to reduce litter in our beautiful community,” she said. “We want to collaborate with others in this effort, work together on one day, and go out to gather as much litter as possible.”

“Earth Day Celebration & Litter Pick Up” begins at 9 a.m. April 20 at the Clarke County Ruritan Fairgrounds. After welcoming remarks from county and committee leaders, everyone will disperse to pick up litter in designated areas across the county, including the fairgrounds, Chet Hobert Park, and Rose Hill Park. Return to the fairgrounds by noon for refreshments, pizza, and a glass-crushing demonstration by Christi McMullen, who voluntarily initiated the county’s glass recycling program in 2022. 

Another way residents and civic groups can help keep Clarke County clean is by adopting a stretch of road. According to keepvirginiabeautiful.org, every year “nearly 18,000 Adopt-a-Highway volunteers collect more than 25,000 bags of waste along Virginia’s highways. It is estimated that these efforts save the Commonwealth over $1.35 million that would have otherwise gone to clean up Virginia’s roads.”

The Clarke County Litter Committee adopted a road in the county through the Adopt-a-Highway program, but more roads need more volunteers. 

“By volunteering to pick up litter along roadways, citizens are also helping VDOT,” said Harrison, explaining, “When VDOT crews spend time picking up litter, it is time, money, and effort that could be directed at more important road infrastructure issues. By adopting highways to clean up, volunteers help VDOT, our community, and the environment.”

Picking up trash is potentially saving wild animals, too, as they are constantly lured into roads by fast-food wrappers and then killed by vehicles. The “Adopt-a-Highway” program is simple. A group commits to a minimum two miles of a VDOT-maintained road, which in Clarke is every road in the county except private lanes and secondary streets in Berryville and Boyce.

“Adopt-a-Highway” also asks groups to commit to at least two cleanup days per calendar year and report their cleanups to VDOT. Adopt-a-Highway signs identify the groups that pick up litter. VDOT provides trash bags, safety equipment, and safety training. VDOT also collects the bags of trash after cleanups.

“It’s very simple, and I’m sure a lot of people may not even know how to adopt a stretch of road,” Harrison said. “Each community organization has its own mission, but I believe if everyone gave a few hours on a few days each year, we could make a big dent in collecting litter and cleaning our environment.”

To adopt a stretch of a Clarke County road, go www.vdot.virginia.gov/about/programs/aah. To learn more about the Clarke County Litter Committee, go to www.clarkecounty.gov/LitterCommittee.

Organizations, groups, and individuals who want to participate or need more information about the April 20 “Earth Day Celebration & Litter Pick Up” event should contact the Litter Committee at (540) 955-5132 or litterfree@clarkecounty.gov.

by Diana Kincannon

I recently received an honor of which I’m very proud: The 2023 Citizen of the Year Award from the Top of Virginia Chamber of Commerce. The award was in recognition of my years of work for the Barns of Rose Hill, a project to salvage two very old barns in Berryville’s town center and restore them for public service as a center for the arts, education, and community, and to establish an official visitor center. 

Many people in Clarke and Frederick counties and the City of Winchester must wonder why the Chamber extended such recognition to me, especially since the Barns opened in 2011 — 13 years ago! It’s because of Jim Wilkins and Donna Downing, and their knowledge of the Barns story, as well as letters of support from a number people who participated in the project with me from 2005 through 2019, excepting 2012 and 2013. 

Because it’s a story of determination and of people working together to achieve a desired goal, it may be of interest not only in our area but also in other communities, and I want to share some of it. 

My part started in late 2004, when the project was designated a 501(c)3 by the IRS and I was asked to lead the project. We were starting from scratch. 

The initial steps were clear: recruit a board of directors, select an architect, design a capital campaign. We knew, too, that strong communication was essential, as were suiting the person to the task, keeping the vision always in mind, raising the visibility and value of the project to constituents as much as we could, and working unstintingly through every challenge that presented itself.

When I say “we”, I mean the board of directors. Although the composition changed over time, the directors worked with high good spirits and strong engagement together.

We spent time developing a mission statement. We identified private and public sources of funding and set about grant-writing and calling on private citizens, foundations, and state and federal representatives. We kept the project in the public’s eye through stories in the Clarke Courier and the 

Winchester Star. We offered programs in the arts — we were a “reality without a roof” — with films, costume and fashion shows, pottery shows and sales, music performances. We mailed out thousands of letters. We met regularly with Carter+Burton, our architect and educator in all matters of construction. 

We wanted a year-round, multi-use facility that salvaged as much of the original construction as possible, met ADA requirements and had an elevator. We considered energy options such as geothermal and green construction designs.

The funding began to come. Several major donors lent their support. Our third attempt for a VDOT “ICETEA” grant was successful because of the inclusion of a visitor center. Our fourth attempt for a HUD Community Development grant came through with our congressman’s support. A Virginia grant through the Department of Historic Resources had the support of our state delegate. We were persistent in pursuing these.

We learned that federal and state grants required a huge amount of administrative work. We learned that Environmental Impact and Landscape Engineering studies were required, and we took care of it. 

The capital campaign started in 2005 and lasted more than six years. Gifts ranged from $5 to $100,000. We raised more than $2 million in public and private funding and in 2010 published an Invitation for Bids. H&W Construction won the day and started work, and we opened to the public in 2011. The facility was beautiful.  

I returned then to the job I had before starting the Barns project, and new leadership came in to take the organization into its work as an operating enterprise. 

There was a learning curve that kept the Barns from flourishing in its first two years, despite an active events schedule. I had retired in 2013, and I asked the board if I could help. In 2014, I was named chair again, and we established operating committees — in effect, business departments — to see to the organization’s management since we couldn’t afford an executive director. We developed a strong budgeting format and created operating policies and procedures. We focused again on fundraising.  

Over the next six years, we stabilized our financial position. We certified the visitor center with the Virginia Tourism Corporation, which required signage on Route 7 and 340, working with VDOT and cost-sharing with the town and county. We became a community partner of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, bringing the museum’s Artmobile to Berryville and working with Clarke County schools to bring kids in to see it. Our programs were drawing larger audiences. Our staff of two managed valiantly.

When we could afford a third staff member, we hired Sarah Ames as our office manager, and two years later promoted her to the position of executive director. She brought superb organizational skills that allowed us at last to transition from an operating board to a governing board, an important transition.

Significantly, we were able to establish two $1 million endowments, which finally brought a sense of financial security and enabled us to pay our dedicated and talented staff what they deserved. In 2019, the Barns drew more than 9,000 people to music concerts, art exhibits, workshops, and many other activities. I stepped off the board at the end of 2019, having served the maximum six consecutive years. Post-pandemic, the Barns is again bringing thousands of people through the doors annually. I hope this bit of history is of some value to other communities with ambitious aspirations. As the 19th-century German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said,  “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has power and magic in it.”