Virginia Wildflowers is a natural history photo gallery and casual field guide to the wildflowers of Virginia. Most of the photos you will find on this website were taken by me, near my home in southwestern Virginia. This region, which includes the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains, is rich in biodiversity. It is a beautiful and fun place to explore!
A word about my process: When I find a plant that I haven’t encountered before, I use a digital camera to capture its identifying features: usually leaves, stems, flowers, and fruit. I then go home and try to identify it. If the plant makes its way onto the website, I post the photos, along with a bit of natural history information for that species. My overall goal is to help myself remember the information from year to year, and to help others (–maybe you?) who might be curious about such things.
After nine years of doing this, I wanted to organize my species list by season so that the website would be more useful. Blogging software (this is a WordPress site) organizes new posts by date, so the easiest way to sort all the entries was to change the date of each post to the same year. Consequently, even though it looks like I took all these photos in 2015, I did not. The website is still regularly updated. 🙂 More importantly, if you now scan the “All Flowers and Fungi” page, spring flowers are at the top of the list, followed by summer flowers in the middle, and fall species near the bottom.
Drop me a note if you have a comment or question, and please feel free to correct my I.D. work if you think I’ve got something misidentified. Botany is a hobby for me and I’m still learning!
One last note: each page contains a gallery-slideshow, so please be sure to click on the gallery to open a larger viewer.
If you would like to use one of my photographs for any reason, please contact me first by email (ghschoenholtz@gmail.com). Thanks!
Welcome to Virginia Wildflowers! I hope you enjoy your visit!
VIRGINIA WILDFLOWERS 
I am really enjoying your posts
Love your posts! Great source of local wildflowers. I am in Chilhowie, Virginia, and just beginning to learn about all the wonderful wildflowers in the area.
So glad you are here! I can’t wait for the season to start up again!
I like the site but can’t find the flower I saw last week in the Jefferson National forest. Can I send you a picture?
Appreciate your site. We hiked to The Cascades yesterday (5/2/14) and saw a riot of Trillium-whites, pinks, and an almost-open red/maroon. Jack was unfolding, not quite open and yellow Large Flower Bellwort which almost escaped attention, hanging beneath its leaves. Tiny garter snake wiggled across the trail. Thanks for help in identifying and will read/ENJOY further your excellent offerings!
Pat in Roanoke
I’ve got to get up there! The Cascades Trail is a wonderful place to see Appalachian Mountain wildflowers in springtime…thanks for the reminder!
Thanks for your comments!
Hi Pat,
Thanks for the offer. I think I’d like that. I’m a slow walker, especially with my camera in tow, but I do try to get out often in the spring and summer. I’ll keep your number. If you are heading out somewhere, let me know and I’ll try to join you too.
We would love to hike with you sometime. My husband Kelly and I are volunteer maintainers of an AT section in the Mountain Lake Wilderness and could really benefit from your vast plant knowledge. We live in Newport. Please please get in touch!
I was just visiting in Charlottesville and took some photos of wild flowers I was unfamiliar with. If I emailed or texted them to you, would you be willing to take a look and hazard a guess? Thanks.
Sure! ghschoenholtz@gmail.com
LOVE YOUR SITE!!! I was walking in Scotts Run Nature Preserve today and found this tall architectural plant with leaves that sort of remind me of Blue Cohash but was wondering if I sent you some pics would you be able to ID it?
Sure, if I can! ghschoenholtz@gmail.com
Might be black cohosh!
I would like to follow your postings.
The Follow button is on the right sidebar. Thanks!
Is there a way to send you an image and identify it for me?
Sure, I’m happy to try! ghschoenholtz@gmail.com
Hi Gloria!
I just wanted to say I enjoyed meeting you yesterday at the Cellar-and didn’t realize until after I left that this is your blog (Carl informed me). I’ve been reading your blog for quite a while now and find myself traveling to the same locations as you to see the wildflowers you’ve identified. Your blog has been immensely helpful and inspiring, so thanks for sharing!
That is so cool, Elyse! We need to get out together! I’d love that! Thanks for getting in touch!
Hi I’m looking for a field of wildflowers with a mountain view to hold a small wedding ceremony… Any suggestions?
What time of year?
We just returned.from a trip to Eagle Rock, VA and a hike.to Roaring Run park. We saw wintergreen, rhodies, ferns, hemlock saplings, and several seemingly orchid-like flowering plants just opening. The leaves ran from solid green to silver/grey with purple spots and one plant with purple stripes. The flowers were white, bright yellow, and purple respectively.
I took pictures and would love to send them to you to see of you could id them.
Thank you for your work on this site, what a great idea!!!
Beautiful site. Thank you!
Hi! I am driving myself nuts trying to identify something I spotted off the Creeper Trail in Taylor’s Valley. It was close to the creek and in a shady part of the forest. Let me try to describe it and maybe you can solve this mystery for me!
It did not look like a plant or a fungus but something in between. It was growing in a circular patch almost like a ring. Each ‘plant’ was reddish-orange to reddish-brown in color and looked almost like a little red Christmas tree. The height of the individual ‘stalks’ was approx 4″ tall and each one had little brown nodules on it. It looked exotic and scary at the same time!! At the top of each was a star-like flat crown and the first thought I had was to wish I had my camera.
I’m sure it must have been something common to the area but I had never seen anything like it. I looked up references to fairy, gypsy, and even baby rhubarb with no success. If you can get an idea from my poor description, it would greatly please me.
Thank you!
Maybe it was Squawroot? Look that up here in my search bar. Let me know if that’s not it! -Gloria
I just discovered your website. What a treasure! I am attempting to turn my unruly backyard into a native Virginia woodland retreat. You’ve given me loads of inspiration and information. Thank you!
Thanks for visiting, Carolyn! I have about 7 acres, mostly woods, and I’m interested in woodland gardening too. I’ve been spreading wildflower seeds for a few years now, and it is coming along. It is nice to be able to find native flowers in your own backyard. Hope the website will be a resource for you!
I love getting notifications about your post. As a native Virginia, this is one of my favorite websites and I enjoy your informed commentaries. I live in Williamsburg and miss the flowers I used to see in the Piedmont area.
Thanks, Patti! I appreciate your feedback very much! Take care!
Hi Gloria FYI, I am Patty Cargill (Patteecee) in Roanoke,
and your reply to Patti’s post was emailed to me, but it was a different person, Patti MacGillivray who wrote:
PATTI MACGILLIVRAY says: June 16, 2020 at 1:43 pm I love getting notifications about your post. As a native Virginia, this is one of my favorite websites and I enjoy your informed commentaries. I live in Williamsburg and miss the flowers I used to see in the Piedmont area. I
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Simply love your wild flowers.