Fox grape (Vitis labrusca) is a hardy, woody vine native to NoVA, where it thrives along forest edges, stream banks, and sunny thickets throughout the region. Its broad, heart-shaped leaves and clusters of dark purple berries are a common sight along local nature trails as summer turns to autumn. A fun fact about the fox grape is that its distinctively sweet and musky flavor profile was cultivated to create the iconic Concord grape, making this native wild species the direct ancestor of classic grape jelly, juice, and traditionally "grape-flavored" sweets.

August is too warm to plant spring-flowering bulbs like tulips and daffodils, but it serves as the critical setup month for preparing soil beds with compost ahead of the autumn planting season. It is also the ideal window to dig up and divide overcrowded spring bulbs or iris rhizomes while they are fully dormant, as well as plant fall-blooming bulbs like autumn crocus for quick late-season blooms. Autumn crocuses planted during this month will bloom in just a few weeks without any leaves at all, and their foliage won't show up until the following spring.

Porcelain berry is a highly invasive, fast-growing deciduous vine that poses a major threat to native habitats in NoVA by aggressively climbing and smothering trees, shrubs, and native plant understories. Originally introduced from East Asia as an ornamental landscape plant, it thrives in urban, suburban, and edge environments across the region, where its vigorous growth blocks sunlight and weighs down native vegetation until entire canopies collapse. Its fruit clusters look like miniature, hand-painted ceramic beads, transitioning through a striking palette of pastel colors.