Tuesday April 7, 2009
Doors open 7:00 p.m. Start time 7:30 p.m.
Members: $5.00
Non-members: $10.00

Native trees are a valuable resource providing shelter, habitat, shade, acoustic buffering, food and beauty. With an arborist's eye, Todd winds his way with us through a forest of photos of native trees of Southern Ontario, including the towering white pine, iconic sugar maple, and stately red oak. He will provide helpful tree identification tips, discuss basic tree physiology, and share some personal anecdotes.

Presenter: Todd is an arborist and Education Coordinator for LEAF. He lectures passionately about trees, leads tree care workshops and tree tours in Toronto. Todd is founding editor and Green Space columnist, for Spacing Magazine - the 2007 National Magazine Award winner for "best editorial package". Join Todd and other LEAFers for LEAFY drinks on the first Thirsty....Thursday of every month - check their website for details.

Join the enlightened world in unity to raise global awareness of climate change with the symbolic gesture of being unenlightened for an hour. Turn off lights and non-essential, electrified equipment at 8:30 p.m. Night lights too, please. It's ok to leave your starter plants in the dark for another hour...they'll understand.

Mother's Day is in May and Father's Day is in June. Remember as a kid when you used to whine, "what about Kid's Day?" And your mother would answer, "everyday is kid's day!" Unless you were a real brat, that would shut you up, at least until the next year. Well, Mother Earth has her special day to be recognized even though she deserves to be coddled every day. So let's give ol' Mother Earth an extra special hug on Wednesday April 22.

Everyone will be performing extra acts of green-ness everywhere during Earth Week, April 17th through the 26th. Come out and join us in celebration on the 26th at Downsview.

Free Admission. Lots of Earth-hugging activities. NANPS will be in The Green Pavilion. Please contact volunteers@nanps.org to volunteer.

Sunday May 3, 2009
Doors open at 2:00 p.m., lecture time 2:30 p.m.
Emmanuel College, 75 Queen's Park Cres. E.

Lorraine Johnson, NANPSter, York University, editor of The Natural Treasures of Carolinian Canada: Discovering the Rich Natural Diversity of Ontario's Southwestern Heartland

And of course, there's the earthy, ethereal, ephemeral...

THE PRE-EVENT
DON'T LEAVE IT 'TIL THE END OF THE LINE - ORDER ONLINE NOW
ORDERS WILL BE DEADHEADED - MIDNIGHT April 19th
No ifs, ands, or buds!

THE MAIN EVENT
Saturday May 9th - Markham Civic Centre
Forbs, grasses, woodies and ferns, hundreds of books, free presentations and free parking!

Act 1: Native Plants in Urban Environments, from Green Roofs to Living Walls Starring: The magnificent, Mathis Natvik. Curtain time: 11:00 a.m. From the original production: "Fiddleheads on the Roof" (ahhh...fiddleheads...harbingers of spring...steamed/boiled to perfection, slathered in melted butter or even better, just a squirt of lemon juice. Goût de terroir! Mmmmmm....but don't pick from the wild!).

Act 2: The Plight of the Bumblebee, How You and Your Garden Can Help Starring: York University's best and brightest, Sheila Colla. Curtain time: 12:15 p.m. From the original work: "All we are saying...is Give Bees a Chance!" (The Bees Movement from the 1960's to the Present).

Act 3: Tree Strategies for a Greener Community Starring: Town of Markham's pride and joy, Karen Boniface. Curtain time: 1:30 p.m. Based on the program: "Survivor - Urban Jungle" (Tribes of trees are challenged every day from the ravages of drought, salt, soil compaction, and wild pruning shears, as they strategize and battle to try to outwit, outplay, outlast, the competition for reward and immunity).

Seriously, please get the word out. Encourage your family, friends and neighbours, and strangers (well...as long as they're not too strange) to attend our biggest annual fundraising effort. The more plants you and others buy, the more $$$ we raise to keep our projects going and to start new and exciting ventures.

Another way in which you can support the cause is to bring in your extra native plants for the Plant Donations Table. NOW is the time to plan which plants you are willing to part with and dig up when they emerge from dormancy. While no one likes to be labeled, the plants love it (or at least their adoptive parents do). Please remember to label each plant since they all seem to look the same after they've been awakened, like many of us, not too fresh. Hey, don't fret; they will go to good homes. Best thing - no lawyers, no paperwork, no legal fees, no hassle. Though, there's no guarantee that the offspring won't show up on your door step in the future.

You can also help by visiting the Plant Donations Table with the intent to adopt. All sales are pure profit for the non-profit NANPS. Wait...how does that work? Well, the donations don't cost NANPS a tinker's penny (Hypericum anagalloides) to obtain, thanks to the generous donors. All of the $$$ from the purchases goes straight to the coffers. Peruse the table - the old standbys will be there and you just might find a rare gem. So don't just walk to this table - RUN!!!

Volunteers are always needed and appreciated. If you are interested in volunteering as a driver to chauffeur plants from Whitby on Friday May 8, please contact volunteer@nanps.org or voicemail 416-631-4438. Take it from the Scoop - this is one Plum (Prunus spp.) job. Dorothy has been known to bake a wicked pie or two. Sweet!

(Who said NANPS membership doesn't have privileges?)
Win A Plant Sale Plant of Your Choice and A Place In This Year's
Top 10 Reasons to Attend The NANPS Annual Plant Sale 2009

Holy Prairie Smoke! It's been one whole year since The Scoop started dishin' the dirt. In celebration, the Scoop will dig up ten coupons worth $5 each and plant them in the hands of the winning authors of this year's ten most convincing arguments about why everyone should go to the plant sale. It's a contest of skill and timing. Winners will be announced in the May Scoop and coupons will be honoured at the May plant sale. All details on the Contest Site. Get your creative juices flowing...but nothing too sappy, please!

No....we have not partnered with Loblaw's Geeky Weston on the next Insiders' Report. Our 25th Anniversary is fast approaching and we need fodder....plant fodder, photo fodder; all manner of material to celebrate our silver maple anniversary. There must be some NANPSters out there with great photos of excursions, rescues, plantings, etc., and/or the tales to go with them. What has NANPS/CWS meant to you over the years? How have native plants helped you? How have you helped the native plant movement? Just open up and pour it on - email@nanps. Let's celebrate our history while looking ahead to the future.

Reward miles? Reward Plans? NANPS has 'em beat.
We have our own priceless Reward Program with three types of awards offered:

(1) The Paul McGaw Memorial Conservation Award recognizes an individual or groups' extraordinary contribution to the conservation, protection or restoration of the natural heritage/native flora of North America at the community, regional, provincial, national or continental level. **Note: deadline to submit has been extended from April 1 to June 1.

(2) Native Plant Garden/Restoration Award honours those members' projects that celebrate diversity and best reflect our mandate to study, conserve, cultivate and restore North America's native flora. Deadline for submissions is July 31st.

(3) Volunteer of the Year Award. Surely with all of our dedicated volunteers, there must be a NANPSter out there to honour. Perhaps someone who helped out at the Speaker's Series or one of those Darling Buds of May who have helped out at the plant sales? Best in Show? Deadline for submissions is TBD.

Send all nominations to: nanps@nanps.org.
Disclaimer: The Board reserves the right on the final selection of all Award winners.

PLEASE VISIT www.nanps.org for details on the Speakers' Series and everything NANPS.

Just as the act of deadheading certain flowers will produce more blooms, the mere threat of deadheading the online advance orders will surely produce a bountiful bloom of last-minute sales, as the cut-off date approaches. And just as nature may seem cruel, so can NANPS. The online Plant Sale crop must be culled at midnight on April 19th! THIS SUNDAY!!! Be warned - we will show no mercy.

Sorry, we don't want to give you the bum's spikerush (Eleocharis spp.), but that's life ... and the natural order.

As the online ordering for the plant sale must come to an end, so too must the Scoop Contest; same date, April 19th, but an hour earlier, at 11 p.m. Truthfully, we have not been plowed under with entries, so any member who enters the contest has a very good chance of winning a FREE PLANT. Besides, The Scoop doesn't want any more work having to make up our own excuses for coming to the plant sale. But, don't get too caught up and forget to order plants. Otherwise, The Queen D may tell The Scoop to buzz off.

NANPS ANNUAL PLANT SALE
SATURDAY MAY 9th
MARKHAM CIVIC CENTRE

Native plants of every description, hundreds of books, free presentations (eaves, bees & trees) and free parking!

The Scoop doesn't want to scare you unnecessarily, but let's talk taxes; more to the point, tax credits. The Home Renovation Tax Credit, HRTC, was recently introduced with much fanfare by the Federales.

Wait ... it gets better. There's even something for gardeners! According to Landscape Ontario, perennials, trees and shrubs are eligible for a tax credit. You can legally write off the softscape, as well as the hardscape elements - ponds, gazebos, waterfalls, irrigation and lighting systems, i.e., all the components pertaining to installing a permanent garden, not to mention, professional landscaping services including design consultation and implementation. Maintenance services do not qualify. Hmmm ... I wonder if the cost of seeds is covered?

Since NANPS will be issuing tax receipts for the HRTC at the Plant Sale, you have even more incentive to buy plants! (Darn! The Scoop already bought a ton of plants last year. Pffft!).

And it's actually sanctioned by our government! Are you sure this is Canada?

Crap! The Scoop's front steps were fixed in November. Trust the Feds to cough up a tax break two months later. However, our steps were so decrepit that they looked more at home in a disaster zone. Yet, our postal carrier was still delivering the mail, climbing the precarious-looking, blown-out, slabs of concrete. These posties must be some tough breed.

But if the Post Office lives by the mantra, "neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet" ... maybe it applies only to outside workers or to the US Postal Service, because for a short time, the mail was not being planted in the NANPS postal box. According to sources, it was an inside job. The mail was actually returned to sender by an inside postal worker!

Thanks to NANPS Co-President and Mail Sorter Extraordinaire, Mighty Miriam, all is well now. Our apologies to those affected and a phlox on Canada Post!

(Call for input on the management planning process for the Holland Landing Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve)

The purpose is to reassess all aspects of the existing interim management statement approved in 1995.

Holland Landing Prairie was established as a provincial park in 1994 as a nature reserve class park. The park is located in the Town of East Gwillimbury, south of Lake Simcoe, and is approximately 34.2 ha. The site protects one of the last remaining areas of tallgrass prairie in Ontario and includes almost the entire relict prairie known from this area. The prairie and associated shrub thickets provide habitat for several provincially and regionally rare plant species.

Comments will be accepted between April 9 and May 25, 2009

April 22	-	Earth Day
April 26	-	NANPS at Downsview Park's Annual Earth Day Festival
May 3	-	NANPSian, Lorraine Johnson, The Natural Treasures of Carolinian Canada, TFN lecture
May 9	-	NANPS Annual Plant Sale
		Many more on the website

PLEASE VISIT www.nanps.org for details on everything NANPS.