The Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library is a grassroots organization that promotes gardening with native plants to provide food and habitat for bees, butterflies, insects, birds, and other wildlife.
We are built on three pillars:
- Provide free access to seeds
- Teach people about gardening responsibly
- Ask seed recipients to reciprocate the gift of nature
Just like a regular library, the Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library provides free seeds and plants that people can “check out” to grow in their own gardens. Once the plants have flowered and gone to seed, people can “return” some seeds to the library to make them available for other people.
Learn more by following us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
In 2024-2025 only, almost 5,000 community projects, schools and individuals received free native seeds, the majority in the Ottawa area, but also in Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Over 100,000 seed packages were donated, from 265 different species. Over 2,500 attended our workshops, presentation and outreach events.
Help us continue to maintain habitat corridors for our wildlife and donate your native plants and seeds!Â
The Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library acknowledges that the land we grow and gather on is the traditional and unceded territory of the Anishinaabe nations. Respect was lost for nature and Indigenous peoples through colonialization, racism and individualism. May our collective work restore our relationships with our human, plant, insect and animal communities.