Featuring gardens by Maddie Maher, Shushila Matteo, Joshua Wenz, John Giordanengo, City of Fort Collins Nix Native Plant Garden, and High Plains Environmental Center. The CoNPS Garden Tours are an important part of our Mission of appreciation and conservation of the native plants of Colorado. The Fort Collins/Loveland Garden Tour has 4 private homes and the institutional garden of Nix Native Plant Garden, plus a final stop at High Plains Environmental Center, HPEC. Native plants have evolved with our local climate, soils and organisms, demonstrating sustainability and water conservation. They are an essential link in the natural food chain. These tours provide visual examples of the use of natives to benefit pollinators by providing needed nectars, and protein-rich pollen. And these islands of native plants support birds by giving seeds, fruits, and homes for insects. By incorporating native plants into your garden, you are helping to restore and sustain necessary natural habitat. You may order native plants online from HPEC prior or after the tour. HPEC is a proud sponsor of CoNPS! Gardens include a Fort Collins Xeriscape Incentive Program 2021 model, one with mature native grasses, another lawn converted to native plantings, a montane elevation wetland and pond, and others designed for pollinators, birds and bugs. Registrants receive a map with directions and suggested routing, one week before the event. Also, general garden descriptions so that you can learn some of the history, personality and intentions of the native gardener.