Free
Native
Plants
For
Free
People
For
Free Native Plants For Free People For
ainiCalifornia Nursery
“aini” means “love you” in Mandarin
As an immigrant from a graying urban hometown, loving more-than-human bodies did not come naturally to me.
But falling in love with California native plants taught me that learning to love some~land is not so different from loving some~one, including myself.
ainiCalifornia exists to increase access to native plants and ecological stewardship for San Gabriel Valley communities. Supported by a small team of native plant friends, we are working our way to become an official organization.
you are in the midst of our origin story
hi I’m Shou 👋 thanks for stopping by!
a Native Plant Nursery for the Community
a Native Plant Nursery for the Community
ainiCalifornia Nursery provides free California native plant material and community workshops throughout the southern San Gabriel Valley.
As an immigrant-founded organization, we understand how difficult belonging can feel. We bridge that gap by offering free native plants and hands-on, relationship-building workshops. s we restore Tongva land in the San Gabriel Valley, she restores us.
In our inaugural year (2025), we distributed 400+ free native plants at community events.
on Honoring California and Our Ancestry
ainiCalifornia is inspired by the Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of the Indigenous stewards who have long tended—and continue to tend—this land now called California.
We are on a journey to return (E)cology to the heart of Asian (T)raditional (K)nowledge, rooted in a California context.