The North Metro Atlanta Chapter of the Georgia Native Plant Society
Overview
The North Metro Atlanta Chapter of the Georgia Native Plant Society was formed in 2021 and we have over 400 members and growing! While we have no particular geographic boundary, our members are mostly in Marietta, Roswell, North Atlanta, Dunwoody, Woodstock, Alpharetta, Chamblee, Cumming, Sandy Springs, Acworth, Kennesaw and anywhere in between and beyond.
Meetings
We meet at various locations in our areas on both weekends and weekdays to accommodate our varying commutes and schedules. Check out our schedule events on the list to the right!
Bylaws and Board Members
At our first annual meeting in 2021, we adopted our bylaws. At our third annual meeting in 2023, the members elected board members: Carling Kirk (President), Connie Ghosh (Vice President), Dana Hallberg (Treasurer), Lilly Vicens (Secretary), and Kerry Defoe (Member-at-large.)
Contact
You can reach us by email, or check out our Facebook page. You can also connect with other members in our private Facebook group.
How can I join?
For current members, login and update your chapter affiliation through the chapter affiliation form. For new or renewing members, you can also select your chapter affiliation on the membership form.
Chapter News & Events
Wrangle With Us on MLK Jr. Day of Service!
Please click on the event you are interested in to check for weather updates.
We encourage people to reach out to the event organizer if there hasn’t been an update.
Georgia Native Plant Society will host its second statewide Weed Wrangle on January 20, 2025 during Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Weed Wrangle is a one-day, area-wide, volunteer effort to help rescue our public parks and green spaces from exotic, invasive species through hands-on removal of especially harmful trees, vines and flowering plants.
While many of us work regularly at invasive plant removal, we hope that hosting a statewide weed wrangle will promote awareness, participation and camaraderie during this national day of community service. Participating locations include:
- POSTPONED ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture Nature Trail in Tifton (Coastal Plain Chapter)
- CANCELED Buffalo Creek Trail in Carrollton (West Georgia Chapter)
- Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve in Stonecrest (Intown Atlanta Chapter)
- Herbert Taylor and Daniel Johnson Park in Atlanta with two dates: January 11 and January 20 at 1:00 p.m. (Intown Atlanta Chapter)
- POSTPONED Mary Scott Nature Park in Atlanta (Intown Atlanta Chapter)
- POSTPONED Old Rucker Park in Alpharetta (North Metro Atlanta Chapter)
- Orme Park in Atlanta (Intown Atlanta Chapter)
- Phinizy Swamp Nature Park in Augusta (Augusta’s River Region Chapter)
- Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon (Fringed Campion Chapter)
- W.D. Thompson Park in Atlanta (Intown Atlanta Chapter)
- Zonolite Park in Atlanta (Intown Atlanta Chapter)
We hope you’ll participate and bring along your friends and family too!
GNPS Receives Grant for Pilot Education Program
GNPS was recently awarded a grant to implement a new educational pilot program called “Broadening Community Beautification: How to Get Started with Native Plant Habitats.” This program, funded by a Microhabitat Program Incubator Catalyst Grant from the Village & Wilderness organization, serves to promote the stewardship and conservation of native plant habitats through community partnerships. The pilot will test a package of tools to educate a broader audience on native plant habitats through partnerships between 5 GNPS chapters and 5 Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation (KGBF) local affiliate groups.
During late winter and spring of 2025, an in-person outreach program will be hosted by each participating KGBF affiliate, featuring a presentation by the local GNPS chapter, a resource toolkit and a free native plant for participants. By tapping into the local Keep America Beautiful network, GNPS is able to reach broader audiences who are interested in protecting the environment through the lens of the KGBF vision of “making Georgia cleaner, greener and more beautiful.” Participating partnerships in this pilot include: the Coastal Plain Chapter and Keep Tift Beautiful; the Fringed Campion Chapter and Keep Macon-Bibb Beautiful; the Intown Atlanta Chapter and Keep Chamblee Beautiful; the North Metro Atlanta Chapter and Keep Roswell Beautiful; and the West Georgia Chapter and Keep Carroll Beautiful. After the pilot concludes, an evaluation will be conducted to understand the program’s effectiveness, needs and gaps, and potential to scale to more chapters and affiliates.
GNPS would like to extend its thanks to Village & Wilderness for its support of this new initiative.
North Metro Spring Plant Sale
Thanks for supporting our spring plant sale! We look forward to seeing you next spring and will try to feature small plant sales at meetings going forward, starting with a talk at Lost Corner on May 4th.
