NATURE
27 acres of natural and open green space located south of Washington, DC along the Potomac River in Fairfax County, Virginia between Old Town Alexandria and George Washington's Mount Vernon.
The American Horticultural Society has had its headquarters at River Farm since 1973, and the property is used to grow beautiful gardens, host weddings and homeschooled children, support horticultural and educational workshops, community meetings, concerts, and art exhibits as well as sponsor annual spring plant sales.
12
acres
TURF & GARDENS
11
acres
FOREST
4
acres
MEADOW
Meditation Garden
Children's Garden
Wildlife Garden
Bee
Hives
Demonstration Garden
NATURE AT RIVER FARM
PLANTS
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Silvergrass
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Black walnut
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Tuliptree
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Bur Oak
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Black cherry
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Black locust
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Sassafras
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American Holly
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Osage orange
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Paperbush
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Handkerchief/Dove tree
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Kentucky coffeetree
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"River Farm Beauty" camellia
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Virginia bluebell
FISH*
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Largemouth bass
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Catfish
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Rockfish
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Pike
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Walleye
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Muskellunge
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Sunfish
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American shad
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American eel
*Eastern border of the property serves as an important route to spawning American shad and American eel.
REPTILES
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Red-eared slider
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Yellow-bellied slider
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Northern red-bellied cooter
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Snapping turtle
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Eastern painted turtle
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Northern ring-necked snake
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Northern watersnake
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Eastern wormsnake
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Little brown skink
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Common five-lined skink
MAMMALS
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Eastern gray squirrel
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Northern short-tailed shrew
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White-tailed deer
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Red fox
AMPHIBIANS
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Cope’s gray treefrog
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Green frog
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Eastern cricket frog
BIRDS
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21 species of birds
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Nesting bald eagles
All of this is under threat due to the American Horticultural Society's Board of Directors' decision to sell River Farm. The increasing pressure to develop the property with critical environmental impact puts the future of River Farm at stake.