Frequently Asked Questions

Hortus is a community platform for gardeners to track their plants, connect with neighbours, and support local ecosystems. It helps you see what is growing nearby, identify bloom gaps, and build pollinator corridors across your neighbourhood.

Yes, Hortus is completely free for gardeners. There are no hidden fees, paywalls, or premium tiers. You get full access to plant tracking, bloom calendars, wildlife data, community features, and the neighbourhood map at no cost.

From the map page, click "Add Plants" in the sidebar. You can search by common or scientific name, and each result shows details like bloom period, light needs, and wildlife support. Select the plants you want, set a quantity, and they appear in your garden right away.

Native plants are species that occur naturally in your region. They have co-evolved with local wildlife over thousands of years, so they provide the best food and habitat for pollinators, birds, and other species. Adding native plants to your garden is one of the most effective things you can do to support local biodiversity.

The bloom calendar shows when each of your plants is in bloom and highlights your coverage across the growing season. It identifies months where nothing is flowering so you can spot gaps. The Plant Finder can then recommend native species that bloom during those gap months.

"Who Stopped By" shows the wildlife species your plants are known to attract, based on ecological data. You can also log sightings when you spot a visitor in your garden, helping build a picture of urban biodiversity in your area.

Community sites are shared gardens managed by organizations, such as community gardens, rain gardens, pollinator meadows, or restoration sites. They appear on the map alongside personal gardens and contribute to neighbourhood-level ecological data.

Find a community site on the map by looking for the cluster or site markers. Click on one to see its details, then click "Get involved" to send a message to the site owner. They can add you as a member so you can help log plants and track progress.

A campaign is a program run by a partner organization to distribute plants and track their growth over time. When you receive plants through a campaign, they are linked to the program so the organization can track survival rates, see how many gardeners they are reaching, and understand what segments of their community are participating.

Your location helps show your garden on the community map and find nearby gardeners, sites, and events. Your exact address is never shared with anyone. Other users only see an approximate marker, intentionally offset from your real location. For full details, see our Privacy Policy.

Your garden is visible on the neighbourhood map to other Hortus users. By default, your location is shown as an approximate marker offset from your real address, so no one can see exactly where you live. You can choose to make your location precise in your settings if you prefer. Your profile only shows the information you choose to share, and you can update your display name and profile at any time.

Your personal information is never sold. Hortus shares anonymized, aggregated data with partner organizations to help them understand regional planting patterns and gardener needs. This helps partners deliver higher quality offerings, like better plant selections and more relevant programs, to support gardeners and their communities.

When something goes wrong, error pages include a "Report this issue" form that goes straight to our admin dashboard. You can also email hello@joinhortus.ca for any other issues or feedback.

Yes. Partner organizations can create campaigns to distribute plants, manage community sites, and track ecological impact across their programs. Visit the Partner Organizations page or contact hello@joinhortus.ca to learn more.