Mission

Who We Are

NANPS is a volunteer-operated, registered charitable organization dedicated to the protection, preservation, cultivation and promotion of flora indigenous to North America in both urban and wild areas.

The society was founded in 1985 by a small group of dedicated conservationists as the Canadian Wildflower Society. NANPS is based out of the Greater Toronto Hamilton Area (GTHA) with membership that draws from across Canada and the USA. To reflect the wider membership base and to acknowledge that plants don’t recognize political boundaries, the society changed its name to the North American Native Plant Society in 1999. In 1985 we founded North America’s foremost native plant magazine:  Wildflower. NANPS later replaced Wildflower with a 16-page quarterly, The Blazing Star, in 2004. The Wildflower name lives on as the magazine for members of Texas’s Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

NANPS is dedicated to the study, conservation, cultivation and restoration of North America’s native flora.

Our mission is to highlight the importance of native plants and actively promote their use throughout local communities, contributing to the broader goal of restoring healthy ecosystems across the continent.

It is our belief that nature belongs in urban, suburban, and rural areas as much as in remote areas.

Our Articles of Transition and Bylaw-2 were updated December 2013 in accordance with the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act.

To that end, we:

  • publish a 16-page quarterly newsletter (The Blazing Star) and an e-newsletter
  • provide this forum for people interested in learning more about native plants or helping us with our mission anywhere in North America
  • create information sheets, booklets and brochures on a variety of related topics
  • manage two conservation properties in Ontario and, through our membership, work to restore ecosystems around the continent
  • provide a Seed Exchange available exclusively to NANPS members
  • staff information booths at a variety of public events
  • offer guided excursions to natural areas
  • operate Canada’s largest native plant sale each May followed by a number of smaller sales; provide support to people
  • adding native plants in urban/suburban areas who may encounter some initial questions from their neighbours or city officials
  • create and present information to municipalities and interested groups on the benefits of native plants
  • host a variety of seminars and workshops, culminating in the Annual General Meeting and Awards Presentation every October or November