Our Achievements

We've Come a Long Way

Rocky Shoals Spider Lily (Hymenocallis coronaria) at The Rocky Shoals Spider Lily Preserve at Parks Mill. Credit: Bill Sharpton

The South Carolina Native Plant Society is a conservation organization at its core, but we’re so much more. Our focus and programs are as diverse as our membership’s interests and as unique as our state’s ecosystems. The mission of SCNPS to “Protect, Restore, and Educate” must by definition span years and generations. We place emphasis on incremental progress, targeting both short and long term priorities, encouraging incremental progress scaled to the capabilities and determination of our membership, and building from a solid foundation of shared knowledge.

It is rewarding to look back over the past 20+ years to recognize what we’ve accomplished, and to learn and take inspiration to serve as a pathway for our own opportunity to contribute. We each, in our own turn, have the opportunity to step up and answer one of the greatest of humanity’s questions…

What Can I Do to Help?

The boxes below highlight some of our more significant achievements. We are excited about building on this foundation and invite you to learn more about our work and find your own opportunity to experience, learn, and contribute.

Parks Mill Spider Lily Preserve

This 15-acre preserve was established by the SCNPS in 2019 to preserve, research, and restore the endangered Rocky Shoals Spider Lily (Hymenocallis coronaria).

Rocky Shoals Spider Lily.

Carolina Bays

The SCNPS purchased the 20-acre Kingsburg Bay and 52-acre Lisa Matthews Memoria Bay and provide for the management to ensure these threatened and endangered habitats are protected and restored.

Aerial view of typical Carolina Bays

Native Plant Sales

Plant sales and swaps are an important part of the SCNPS culture, providing hundreds of thousands of often hard-to-find native plants and sharing members' knowledge with the communities we serve.

SCNPS Upstate Native Nursery

Certificate in Native Plant Studies

The SCNPS and the South Carolina Botanical Garden collaborated to create this 88-hour certification course to benefit our communities on the importance of native plants and biodiversity.

Certificate in Native Plant Studies

Invasive Species Awareness and Eradication

SCNPS annually organizes programs in collaboration with partners to eradicate aggressive non-native plants that out-compete our native species and directly impact the biodiversity in our state.

Upstate Fig Butter Eradication Campaign Map. Credit: Janie Marlow

Preservation and Restoration of Endangered Plants

Preventing the loss of our state's rarest heritage plants is a core mission of the SCNPS.

Oconee Bells (Shortia galacifolia). Credit: Janie Marlow