Who we are

The Australian Plants Society NSW Ltd is made up of members from all walks of life who have a passion to learn about, share, grow and conserve Australian native plants and their habitats. 

Our activities 

We meet regularly at local and state levels, to allow members to share their insights and experiences in a friendly and collaborative environment.  

Each year, we hold 4 state-level activities around the state and a range of activities across the state. Our 18 District Groups undertake many activities, most open to non-members including: 

• Talks, bush walks and garden visits
• Trips away
• On-the-ground conservation activities and submissions on state and local planning proposals impacting Australian plants and bushland 
• Workshops on propagation and planting of Australian plants 
• Community events

Our Goals

With values of integrity, credibility, respect and enthusiasm, we are committed to: 

• Supporting our members
  
• Promoting native plants and the Society 
  
• Building a contemporary organisation
  

Partnerships

We partner with other organisation with complementary aims including: 

• Our federal body, the Australian Native Plants Society (Australia) or ANPSA.
  
• Our sister organisations in other states of Australia.
  
• The Nature Conservation Council. We are members which represents over 160 community organisations and is a leading advocate for nature in NSW.
• Australian Flora Foundation. This group fosters research into the biology and cultivation of Australian plants by funding research projects, giving prizes for research, organising seminars and publishing research findings. We are members and donate to research.
  

Community 

Our local groups work closely with the community to share our knowledge and passion for Australian plants and their habitats and make plants available to the public. Examples include:

• Blue Mountains Group holds an annual spring show at the Glenbrook Native Plant Reserve, a two hectare site containing a rich diversity of mountain flora as well as a native plant nursery.
  
• Coffs Harbour Group is a contributor to the North Coast Regional Botanic Garden, which features forests and plants indigenous to the Coffs Harbour area, as well as rare and endangered plants of Australia.
  
• Menai recently expanded its nursery, The Compound Nursery, and enhanced the landscaping at Illawong Rural Fire Station
  
• Newcastle operates a nursery at the Hunter Wetlands Centre
  
• North Shore supports the Ku-Ring-Gai Wildflower Garden in St Ives, an area of mostly natural bushland and two endangered ecological communities. The Society runs regular ‘walks and talks’ through the Garden
  
• Northern Beaches supports the Stony Range Botanic Garden in Dee Why, a six hectare sanctuary of beautiful native plants and amazing sandstone landscapes, originally a disused quarry.
  
• Nowra is a long-running exhibitor at the famous Berry Garden Festival, holding plants sales to inspire like minded people to grow native plants
  
• Sutherland Group is a long running supporter of the Joseph Banks Native Plants Reserve at Kareela, which in 2017 received a $5,000 federal government Stronger Communities Programme grant, to be matched by Sutherland group. This will be used to produce over 20 interpretive signs for the Reserve.

History of the Australian Plants Society

Over 60 years ago, a small, committed group of people pledged to ‘promote the establishment and breeding of Australian native plants for garden, park and farm’. They banded together to establish the Society for Growing Australian Plants in Victoria and within a year, societies had been established in six states, including NSW. 

A few years later, the federal association, now known as the Australian Native Plants Society (Australia) was formed to assist in integrating activities across Australia. 

We had a name change in the 1980s, from the Society for Growing Australian Plants NSW to the Australian Plants Society NSW. 

Our logo for many years, the hand-drawn waratah – and the floral emblem of NSW – was drawn by Betty Maloney, who along with her sister Jean Walker, first introduced the concept of bush gardening. This was the first real attempt in Australia to embrace our native flora. Their seminal book, "Designing Australian Bush Gardens" helped inspire broad interest in the growing and conserving native and indigenous plants in suburban gardens.

Our new logo still embraces the waratah, but has a more contemporary look and feel, which we think represents the Australian Plants Society today. We continue our commitment to growing and conserving Australian plants.