Cameron “Cammie” Donaldson honored with 2025 Coreopsis Award

The Florida Wildflower Foundation proudly announces Cameron “Cammie” Donaldson as the 2025 recipient of the T. Elizabeth Pate Coreopsis Award.

Despite Cammie’s humble preference to stay behind the scenes and out of the spotlight, few people have had such an extraordinary impact on Florida’s native plant community of practice. Through her work with the Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS), Florida Association of Native Nurseries (FANN) and Native Plant Horticulture Foundation, Cammie has dedicated her career to forging connections and strengthening Florida’s native plant industry.

From the mid-1990s onward, Cammie supported FNPS through her service as editor of The Palmetto, successful grant writing and steady leadership. In the early years of the Florida Wildflower Foundation, she provided critical support and consistently worked to ensure a productive partnership between our two organizations.

Cammie is perhaps best known for her role as executive director of FANN, a position she began in 2009. Under her leadership, the organization has grown to be the largest network of native plant businesses and professionals in the U.S. She works tirelessly on behalf of Florida’s native plant growers, retail nurseries, horticulture and landscape professionals, environmental consultants, and allied trade, academic and nonprofit organizations.

As if that were not enough, in 2016 she took on a second executive director role with the Native Plant Horticulture Foundation. A natural complement to her work at FANN, the Foundation provides another avenue for supporting native plant professionals as they launch and grow thriving businesses.

For her endless advocacy, skilled network building and enduring commitment to the people she serves, Cammie is one of the most respected voices in Florida’s native plant industry. Here are just a few notes from those who value her tremendously:

She always seems to be behind the scenes, but she is very much one who enlists support for good ideas. I love her.
– Nancy Bissett, The Natives, Inc.

Cammie Donaldson has been the glue and the spearhead responsible for the growth and vitality of FANN for 30 years. Her dedicated efforts to advance our association have rewarded members 10-fold. Her increased efforts to collaborate with the Horticulture Foundation, the Florida Wildflower Foundation, and IFAS has cemented FANN as an integral component of Florida’s landscape industry. Many native plant species are now present and common in most new landscape projects statewide, most of which were not common 30 years ago. Cammie’s relentless leadership has been essential to this new reality.
– David Drylie, Green Images

Cammie is a driving force of nature. She has directed FANN over the last 20 years or more to become what it is today. She never stops promoting and coming up with great thoughts on how to advance the cause of Native plants. She is eager to work with new groups to expand the knowledge of our industry across the U.S. in all platforms. I can’t say enough great things about her.
– Marc Godts, Green Isle Gardens

I have known Cammie for over 30 years now and she has been the guiding force behind FANN and a huge advocate on many fronts for the use of native plants and wildflowers in our state. Her dedication to the association and to the promotion of native plant use in our state has been one of the main reasons that we have been so successful in our ability to produce more plants (and species) and to educate the public about the many benefits of native plant use. When FANN was initially created we did not have an executive director for many years and we needed that guidance to keep us cohesive and on track with our mission and goals. Cammie has never wavered from her commitment to keeping us all focused and building FANN into one of the premier and most recognized native plant growers associations in the nation. From coordinating our trade shows and seminars, publishing the Plant Locator and now digital media, establishing the Horticultural Foundation to help fund aspiring students and first-time growers, Cammie has been at the forefront of making that all happen. I truly feel that without Cammie’s guidance and determination, the native plant industry and the use of native wildflowers in this state would not have advanced as far as it has today.
– Brightman Logan, native plant industry pioneer

Through her leadership of FANN and the Native Plant Horticulture Foundation, she has been an organizer, advocate, educator, and project leader for the promotion of the professional nursery trade. Her work inspires and helps emerging professionals and students with technical and financial resources to pursue careers involved with native plants. She organizes an annual symposium to bring nursery owners and landscape professionals together and is the editor for the magazine Guide for Real Florida Gardeners, a resource guide for native plant gardeners. In the last two decades, Cammie has done more for the native plant industry than anyone.
– David Price, Bok Tower Gardens

For years, Cammie has led the native plant nursery industry with integrity, energy and passion. With the backing of a strong, dedicated board, she has brought the movement front and center in an industry that had mostly passed over natives for anything exotic. Through innovative programming, marketing and partnerships, Cammie has been instrumental in growing the army of native plant growers and enthusiasts throughout Florida. At the same time, she is ensuring the industry’s future by developing programs that engage and educate next-gen growers.
– Lisa Roberts, former Florida Wildflower Foundation executive director

I met Cammie well over a decade ago, and since then, I’ve learned so much from the example she sets as a leader and the way she shows up for others and for the native plant community. Over the years, through her leadership at FANN, she has become a steady, unifying presence. She has built trust, strengthened relationships, and fostered a genuine sense of community among native plant professionals across the state. She leads with clarity and consistency, and people know where she stands — a quality that has earned deep respect across the industry.

Cammie has also helped open doors for small businesses and students through the Native Plant Horticulture Foundation — investing time, resources, knowledge and support to help ensure a strong future for the industry. She believes in people, in the native plant community, and in lifting others as the field continues to grow.

To me, and to the Florida Wildflower Foundation, she has been an incredible supporter, partner and resource. Her generosity in sharing insight and information, her encouragement, and her steadfast commitment to our shared mission have made a real and lasting difference. I am deeply grateful for her leadership, partnership and the care and integrity she brings to everything she does.
– Stacey Matrazzo, Florida Wildflower Foundation executive director