NOVA Plant Guide

Our average last frost falls around April 15–20, so hold warm-season annuals like petunias, marigolds, and impatiens until then. Cool-season color — pansies and violas — can go out in late March, and again in fall for winter interest. Plant spring-blooming bulbs like tulips and daffodils in October–November, and summer bulbs such as dahlias and cannas after the frost date.

Virginia natives take the least work because they're built for our climate and clay. Reliable performers include black-eyed Susan, purple coneflower, coreopsis, daylily, liriope, and switchgrass, plus boxwood, inkberry holly, and oakleaf hydrangea for structure. They shrug off summer heat, need little watering once established, and feed pollinators.

For the shaded, tree-canopied lots common in Reston and older Sterling neighborhoods, go with hostas, ferns, astilbe, heuchera (coral bells), and hellebores for the ground layer, and azalea, hydrangea, and mountain laurel for shrubs. These handle dappled light and the moisture that collects under mature trees.

No plant is truly deer-proof, but deer avoid aromatic, fuzzy, or toxic foliage. Strong choices for our area include boxwood, daffodils, ornamental grasses, salvia, catmint, lavender, Russian sage, ferns, and hellebores. Grouping these near the plants deer love acts as a natural buffer.

Fall — roughly September through October — is the ideal window. The soil is still warm enough for roots to establish while cooler air reduces stress, so the plant is ready to take off the following spring. Early spring is the second-best option; avoid planting in the peak heat of July and August.

For color from June to frost, plant purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, daylily, coreopsis, salvia, and coneflower alongside shrubs like Knock Out roses, panicle hydrangea, and crape myrtle. Deadheading spent blooms keeps most of these flowering longer.

Rather than fight the clay, choose plants that tolerate it: daylily, black-eyed Susan, aster, switchgrass, coneflower, river birch, and oakleaf hydrangea all thrive. For everything else, we amend beds with compost at planting to improve drainage — clay is actually nutrient-rich once it drains properly.

Apply 2–3 inches of mulch in mid-to-late spring once the soil warms, and refresh in fall if beds thin out. Keep it pulled a few inches back from trunks and stems — mulch piled against bark (“mulch volcanoes”) traps moisture and invites rot and pests.