[3] The site is coppiced In order to keep a reasonably open canopy allowing plenty of light onto the woodland floor, to benefit plants which grow beneath the trees.
[4] Penhow Woodlands is one of the best sites in Wales for spring flowers such as bluebells, as well as primroses, wood anemone and lesser celandine.
Other rare and localised plants include green hellebore, a specialist of wood on limestone soils, and birds-nest orchid which grows in leaf litter and usually blooms around June.
[4] The upright spurge (Euphorbia stricta) grows only in south-east Wales and Gloucestershire in the UK and this reserve contains the largest population in Gwent.
[3] The birds recorded here include various species of warbler, common redstart, European pied flycatcher and tree pipit, which breed in the nature reserve.