The native flower meadow our Piedmont Memorial Overlook property is almost at peak bloom!

This 50-acre property, which has one of the best views in Northern Virginia, is publicly accessible via Sky Meadows State Park. It’s a one-way 1.6-mile hike there via the Ambassador Whitehouse Trail, but many people make it a 4.6-mile loop that includes a stretch of the Appalachian Trail.

This project started in 2015 when we restored what was an overgrazed cattle pasture window a meadow that contains roughly 16 species of native flowers and 3 species of native grasses, which all support a wide variety of pollinators and other wildlife.

The Overlook is part of a corridor of the Blue Ridge Mountains permanently protected by Sky Meadows State Park, the G.R. Thompson Wildlife Management Area, the National Park Service’s Appalachian National Scenic Trail, and private land under conservation easement. The most spectacular flowers in bloom during late summer are the oxeye sunflower (heliopsis helianthoides) and wild bergamot (monarda fistulosa).

Learn more about the property: https://www.pecva.org/overlook