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Our Mission
Our mission is
to demonstrate the beauty, garden worthiness, and ecological
appropriateness of California
native gardens and to advance knowledge of native plants and
increase their availability.
The
California Native Garden Foundation
is a non-profit educational, research, and resource
organization that promotes gardening with California native plants.
Our
goal is to increase the popularity and use of California's native
plants in the designed landscape.
Vision
CNGF will become a major statewide source for learning about,
experiencing, and promoting California native gardening and for
bringing new California native plants to the garden. |
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Purpose
We seek
to instill a new ethic in gardening and inspire a new ecological ethos. Our
usual way of gardening for recreational, aesthetic, and agricultural purposes
has not brought us closer to our natural environment, the plant community in
which we live. It has distanced us from the trees, shrubs, and wildflowers that
were here before us and still survive in undisturbed areas. We hope to bring
their underutilized beauty and economy to home and commercial gardens and
promote their appropriateness.
Goals of the Foundation
California Native
Garden Foundation (CNGF) will educate the public and design
community on the value of native gardens. Classes, field trips,
lectures, garden tours, and publications will be made available to
members, landscape professionals, and the public. Programs will be
offered on ecology, garden design, plant identification, garden
building, and garden management with emphasis on educating landscape
design professionals.
CNGF will substantially increase the availability and usage of
native plants in California gardens. The Foundation will introduce
new native plant selections and lesser-known species to the public.
New native plant selections will be made according to adaptability
to local habitats, garden worthiness, and natural beauty.
CNGF will develop research facilities for testing and propagating
California native plants. Field studies, collections, and
selections will be integral to this research.
CNGF will be an active non-profit foundation with a diversified
membership statewide.
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CNGF is an outgrowth of efforts begun three years ago when a group of
knowledgeable people made a commitment to change the traditional gardening
paradigm. CNGF incorporated on March 11, 2004 and held its first board
meeting on Wednesday, March 24, 2004. Our immediate focus is to solicit and
gain charter members, develop our website cngf.org, and develop programs with
community groups to educate the public about native plants.
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