Joe-pye Weed

Native Plant Garden Thrives in Record Heat

The bloom of high summer has come to the Mediation and Prayer Garden at Christ Church, Port Tobacco Parish, in La Plata. The garden’s flowering native plants are providing nectar sources for many of our butterfly species, including Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Great Spangled Fritillary, Painted Lady, Monarch, Hummingbird Moth, and Silver-spotted Skipper. And though the garden’s rain barrels are full from the heavy rains earlier this month, the plants are drought-tolerant and we have not had to water. Learn more about native plants.

Funding for this project was provided by a Charles County Chesapeake Bay Trust Outreach and Restoration Grant to the Port Tobacco River Conservancy, with help from community partners the Town of La Plata, Charles County Master Gardeners, and University of Maryland Extension.