It’s Bluebell Season
This past weekend would have been our annual Bluebell Walk on Cedar Run.
Since we couldn’t gather together in person, Margrete and Mike Stevens, who host the event at their farm in Catlett, VA, made this fantastic video to bring the beauty of spring to all of us at home! Their farm is protected with a conservation easement, so these stream banks of bluebells are here to stay! Thank you Margrete and Mike!
The video is posted on our Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube pages.
The Bluebell Walk is hosted by PEC’s Julian Scheer Fauquier Land Conservation Fund (“Fauquier Fund”) advisory committee. It is named in memory of former PEC Board Vice Chairman Julian W. Scheer, of Catlett.
Mr. Scheer was a dedicated conservationist, who helped spearhead the efforts in opposition to the Disney Corporation’s proposed development of 3,000 acres in Haymarket. He successfully broadened the awareness of the need to protect and preserve the historic Piedmont countryside.
The Fauquier Fund, in partnership with PEC and other organizations, provides funds to purchase conservation easements and works with landowners to help cover the costs of donating an easement.
The fund is managed by the Piedmont Foundation–a 509(a)(3) supporting organization established to hold and manage the funds of The Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC). If you are interested in making a donation to the Piedmont Foundation for the Fauquier Fund please contact Doug Larson at 540-347-2334 x. 7004 or at dlarson@pecva.org.
Fun Facts About Bluebells:
- It’s all in a name: The Virginia bluebell (Mertensia virginica) is named as the genus Mertensia, to honor the 18th-century German botanist Franz Mertens, and the specific name, virginica, referred to the Colony of Virginia.
- Virginia bluebells are early spring ephemerals, which means they only bloom once, and are some of the first spring blooms to share their color.
- Bluebells actually start pink, and deepen to their true blue shade as the blossoms mature.
- Bluebells are a delicate flower that thrives in the rich deposits of floodplains. They have a strong root system that can colonize and survive many generations on a stream’s banks.
- Bluebells are a pollinator favorite, but only the largest bees (a favorite of bumblebees) have the ability to push their way up the flower’s tube.
- Common names include: Virginia-cowslip, Roanoke-bells, lungwort, and oysterleaf. The name lungwort probably comes from its use in treating pulmonary disorders, and oysterleaf from the oyster-like flavor of its leaves.
Have you seen bluebells this year? Send a photo to pecnews@pecva.org if you took one and let us know where!