 |
|---|
Here at Forest View Native Plants we are striving to be as eco-friendly as we can!
​
Here at Forest View we offer a wide selection of native and near native plants, from beautiful wildflowers that pollinator insects love to young trees and shrubs essential to our wildlife. Whether you are looking to create a meadow or a traditional garden we have the plants for you!
We pride ourselves in trying to be as environmentally friendly as possible, always searching out solutions to lessen the plastic waste that is so common in the greenhouse industry. Using biodegradable pots made out of renewable resources, like coconut fibers, and limiting the use of nitrous fertilizers are just some of the ways we lessen our environmental impact.
We also offer free consultations to help you design your own pollinator gardens, picking the right plants for you, and figure out how to manage your invasive species!
​
We are aiming towards helping a different not-for-profit / charity organization every year!
​
$5 from every order of $35 or more will go towards the organization and will be donated at the end of the season (September). If you wish to donate more please let us know!
This Coming Season of 2024 we are donating to the Little Res Q located in Pefferlaw!
Please check out their website if you'd like to learn about this amazing organization and how they are changing the lives of many reptiles, especially red eared slider turtles.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Who am I?
Hi,
My name is Michelle O'Brien and I am the founder of Forest View Native Plants. What got me into growing, and now selling, native plants? Well, it all started when I went to Algonquin college to take the Forestry Technician program. I had an absolute blast learning how to identify native trees and wildflowers, trekking hours through the woods, getting distracted by this plant or that plant, and more often than not getting distracted from whatever assignment I had been given. In my class I was labeled the "Plant Girl" and most of my classmates would ask for my help with the identification of trees and wildflowers.
​
Upon graduating in 2018, I slowly started to get into gardening with native plants and learning the reasons why it is important. The rich biodiversity here in Ontario is all interdependent on each other. Without insects many plants could not reproduce, without certain plants many insects would lose host plants. Take the monarch butterfly for example. Their caterpillar requires the leaves of milkweed in order to survive, they have a dependency on the plant. Without milkweed the monarch butterfly would cease to exist.
​
It took me until 2021 to really become serious in this passion. I started to design and make plans on building my own greenhouse to propagate my own seeds. From there my ideas started to grow and expand! My dreams started to take root! By the end of the year I had a greenhouse and many seeds to sow.
​
The following year (2022) I experimented and learned what I could about how to look after plants in a greenhouse. What does each native plant require in order to grow? And, most importantly, what species did I want to focus on? All of them of course! The decision to go further than my own garden and grow more plants was a quick one. Profit is great, but that's not my goal. Conservation of our environment is extremely crucial and the ability to have access to sustainably grown native plants is important.
​
Looking forward to a great growing season come 2023!
