North American Native Plant Society
The North American Native Plant Society is a volunteer-operated Canadian charitable organization dedicated to conserving, cultivating, studying, and restoring North America's native flora.
Last updated August 26, 2026
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Overview
The North American Native Plant Society (NANPS) is a volunteer-operated Canadian charitable organization focused on the conservation, cultivation, study, and restoration of native plants across North America. It began in Ontario in 1985 as the Canadian Wildflower Society, established by a small group of conservationists seeking to protect indigenous flora and encourage its responsible use in gardens, public landscapes, and restoration projects. The organization later adopted the name North American Native Plant Society to reflect a broader geographic mission and membership base. NANPS combines conservation work with public education and practical horticulture. Its activities include managing conservation properties, supporting ecological restoration, publishing educational material, organizing lectures and workshops, operating plant sales and a member seed exchange, and maintaining information resources for gardeners, municipalities, businesses, and community groups. It also supports people replacing non-native ornamental plants with species indigenous to their local ecosystems. The organization emphasizes that native plants can increase biodiversity, provide habitat for wildlife, and help restore ecological relationships disrupted by development and invasive species. Its educational work also recognizes the cultural, medicinal, and economic significance that many native plants have held for Indigenous peoples. The society manages two Ontario conservation properties: Shining Tree Woods, a 50-acre Carolinian woodlot acquired in the early 1990s to protect the nationally rare cucumber tree, and a roughly five-hectare parcel at Zinkan Island Cove on the Bruce Peninsula, designated as an Area of Natural and Scientific Interest. These properties provide a practical focus for NANPS's conservation and restoration objectives. Public outreach is central to the society's identity. NANPS publishes The Blazing Star, a quarterly newsletter, and The Local Scoop, an electronic newsletter. It produces information sheets, brochures, booklets, and a searchable Native Plant Database, and maintains a directory of commercial growers that meet its ethical guidelines. The society also staffs information booths, leads guided excursions, offers seminars, and works with municipalities and partner organizations. Its annual native plant sale, held each May and followed by smaller sales through October, is described as Canada's largest native plant sale. NANPS has also contributed to the wider native-plant movement by maintaining a list of local native plant societies in Canada and the United States, promoting ethical propagation and gardening practices, and campaigning for native-plant inclusion in public projects. Its activities are concentrated in Ontario, but its information, membership interests, and ecological message are North American in scope. The organization is not a conventional commercial brand: its public identity is that of a conservation society whose programs, publications, events, plant sales, and educational resources support a broader environmental mission.
History
The North American Native Plant Society was founded in 1985 in Ontario as the Canadian Wildflower Society by a small group of conservationists. From its beginning, the organization combined protection of wild habitats with efforts to make native plants better understood and more widely used in cultivation. That same year it began publishing Wildflower, a native-plant magazine edited by James L. Hodgins, and established a gardening code of ethics for members. In 1986, the society held its first public annual native plant sale and filed letters patent. It expanded its educational role in 1988 by sponsoring a native-plant propagation workshop and organizing a wildflower-garden tour in the Guelph and Waterloo areas. These initiatives established a pattern that continues in its work today: conservation is supported by practical propagation knowledge, public events, and responsible horticulture. A major conservation development occurred in 1993, when the organization purchased Shining Tree Woods, a 50-acre Carolinian woodlot near Cultus, Ontario. The property was acquired in part to protect the nationally rare cucumber tree, Magnolia acuminata. In 1994, the society co-published, with the Federation of Ontario Naturalists, a booklet on the native plants of Carolinian Canada that combined conservation information with horticultural advice. The society's visual identity also dates from this period: its logo, designed in 1994 by Beth McEachen, is a woodcut depicting an arum, a cypripedium, and blue-eyed grass, representing three native plant families found across the continent. The organization changed its name to the North American Native Plant Society in 1998. The new name reflected a broader mission than the original Canadian Wildflower Society title and better represented its interest in native flora throughout North America. In 2000, NANPS ended its support for Wildflower and replaced it with The Blazing Star. Wildflower subsequently continued independently for a time before ending publication in 2004. In 2003, NANPS acquired a second conservation property: a five-hectare parcel at Zinkan Island Cove on Ontario's Bruce Peninsula. The site is a provincially designated Area of Natural and Scientific Interest. The acquisition strengthened the society's direct role in land conservation and provided another setting for ecological stewardship and restoration. From 2005 onward, the society developed a more regular program of seminars across Ontario and formed partnerships with the Toronto Botanical Garden and the City of Markham. The Local Scoop was also established as an electronic newsletter by a NANPS member. These activities complemented the society's established publications, plant sales, seed exchange, guided excursions, public information booths, and educational materials. NANPS marked its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2010 with a special edition of The Blazing Star. Founder and honorary president James A. French published Silver Memories, a personal account of the organization's first quarter-century. In 2013, the society campaigned for the inclusion of a native plant garden in plans to renew Ontario Place. Today, NANPS remains a volunteer-operated charitable organization. Its work encompasses habitat conservation, restoration of indigenous flora in developed areas, support for native-plant gardening, ethical grower information, seed exchange, public education, and advocacy. Its annual May plant sale, described as Canada's largest native plant sale, is followed by additional sales through the growing season. Through its Native Plant Database, newsletters, workshops, excursions, and connections to local societies in Canada and the United States, NANPS functions both as an Ontario conservation organization and as a source of knowledge for the wider North American native-plant community.
- 2010
Twenty-fifth anniversary marked
[1]NANPS published a special anniversary edition of The Blazing Star, and founder James A. French published a history of the society's first 25 years.
- 2003
Zinkan Island Cove property acquired
[1]The society purchased a five-hectare parcel on the Bruce Peninsula within a provincially designated Area of Natural and Scientific Interest.
- 1998
Name changed to North American Native Plant Society
[1]The organization adopted its current name to reflect a broader mission and membership.
- 1993
Shining Tree Woods acquired
[1]NANPS purchased a 50-acre Carolinian woodlot to conserve habitat including the rare cucumber tree.
- 1988
Propagation workshop and garden tours established
[1]The society sponsored its first native-plant propagation workshop and established a wildflower-garden tour in southwestern Ontario.
- 1986
First public annual plant sale
[1]NANPS sponsored its first public native plant sale and filed letters patent.
- 1985
Organization founded as the Canadian Wildflower Society
[1]A small group of conservationists founded the society in Ontario to promote conservation and responsible use of native plants.
- 1985
Wildflower magazine begins publication
[1]The organization began publishing Wildflower, an early magazine devoted to native plants.
Products and positioning
A volunteer-led native-plant conservation and education society that connects ecological protection, ethical horticulture, habitat restoration, and public participation.
Native plant retail and fundraising event · 1986
Annual Native Plant Sale
NANPS operates a major annual native plant sale each May, followed by smaller sales from June through October. The event makes regionally appropriate native plants available to the public while supporting the society's conservation and education work. It is described in reference material as Canada's largest native plant sale.
Quarterly publication · 2000
The Blazing Star
The Blazing Star is NANPS's 16-page quarterly newsletter. It provides a continuing communication channel for native-plant information, society activities, conservation topics, events, and member engagement. It replaced the society's support for Wildflower magazine around 2000.
Electronic newsletter
The Local Scoop
The Local Scoop is NANPS's electronic newsletter, used to circulate timely information about native plants, society activities, seminars, sales, and related community opportunities.
Digital information resource
Native Plant Database
NANPS maintains a searchable database intended to help gardeners, land managers, municipalities, and the public identify and learn about North American native plants. It forms part of the society's broader effort to support informed planting and ecological restoration.
Member conservation service
Native Seed Exchange
The member seed exchange supports the distribution and cultivation of native plant seeds. It complements NANPS's ethical gardening principles and helps members participate directly in native-plant propagation and restoration.
Marketing campaigns
- 2013Ontario Place Native Plant Garden Campaign
Ontario, Canada
NANPS advocated for a native plant garden to be included in the renewal of Ontario Place, linking public-space redevelopment with ecological education and the use of indigenous flora.
Brand decisions
2000
Replacement of Wildflower with The Blazing StarStrategyBackground
NANPS decided to stop supporting publication of Wildflower magazine.
Action taken
The society introduced The Blazing Star as its quarterly newsletter.
Aftermath
Wildflower continued independently for a period and eventually ceased publication in 2004, while The Blazing Star became NANPS's continuing publication.
1998
Adoption of the North American Native Plant Society nameStrategyBackground
The original Canadian Wildflower Society name no longer fully described the organization's expanding activities and broader membership interests.
Action taken
The organization changed its name to North American Native Plant Society.
Aftermath
The new name positioned the society as a North American native-flora organization while retaining its strong Ontario base.
Recent events
- 2013
NANPS campaigns for a native plant garden at Ontario Place[1]
Campaign
The society advocated for a native plant garden to be included in the renewal of Ontario Place.
- 1998
Society adopts the North American Native Plant Society name[1]
Other
The Canadian Wildflower Society changed its name to North American Native Plant Society to express its wider activities and membership.
- 1986
NANPS launches its first public native plant sale[1]
Product launch
The society sponsored its first public annual native plant sale and formalized its organization through letters patent.
- 1985
Canadian Wildflower Society founded[1]
Other
A small group of conservationists established the organization in Ontario under the name Canadian Wildflower Society.
Sources2 sources
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