Talking Native Plants with Carol Kearney of Momentum Realty and Loudoun County Master Gardener

June 13, 2019; Potomac Falls, VA.
C.D. Guillaudeu, Your Business Our World

We at Your Business Our World love asking our customers about their business and may selfishly ask a few questions of our own that we may not know about and hopefully learn something new along the way.  We started out talking with Carol Kearney of Momentum Realty and Master Gardener about her passion for the environment and plants.

“From the garden which is what I will primarily be talking about today, if you’re a gardener you can do things in a way that is more sustainable and if you’re really passionate about the environment, you can build an environment if you will, that will sustain itself. “

So, on a pleasant afternoon in mid May, Carol Kearney of Momentum Realty and Loudoun County Master Gardener walked me around her yard pointing out plants that were easy to grow, which were native, which needed sunlight, which ones she wanted to move, which ones she wished she hadn’t planted... Don’t plant Nandina Berry trees, their berries are bad for the birds and the trees are hard to get rid of once they take hold.

“The environment is my passion and how does that work as a realtor, I can educate people in terms of homes that make a difference from an environmental perspective”

Now this author is definitely not a gardener, and I’m afraid I got her a little sidetracked on our walk-through.  While interviewing and chatting, I was thinking that gardening required way too much patience.  But all it takes is just one flower to pique your interest and all of a sudden, you’re on a lifelong journey of learning, enjoyment, excitement, and contribution to helping our environment.

Watermark Woods Nursery:

Who doesn’t love watching butterflies?  They flitter from flower to flower, wings opening and closing, just doing their thing as they feed off its nectar, it’s no wonder people are fascinated with them.  You can create your own butterfly garden, by using plants native to your area. Plants have developed over time, so to speak, to work with the insects and birds and butterflies for your region.

Native plants are part of an evolution of a whole foundation of systems and interactions that support a region’s butterflies, birds, insects, bees, etc., who rely on to grow and live.  

Here in the Virginia Piedmont area, one example of how to use native plants is to help feed the Monarch Butterflies during their migration each year.  Their populations have decreased dramatically over the last twenty years due to loss of habitat through development and pesticide use.  Monarchs have a special relationship with milkweed.  Milkweed is the only plant a monarch larva(caterpillar) can survive on. Without milkweed we have no monarchs.