DIRECTIONS: Marshall Native Gardens are located at the Madison County Public Library, 1335 North Main St., in Marshall, NC. The gardens are free and open to the public 7 days a week, sunrise to sunset.
ABOUT US FOLLOWS:
Marshall Native Gardens Initiative is the all volunteer non-profit (501c3) organization that has created and maintains the Marshall Native Gardens. We are a close-knit informal group of native garden enthusiasts that welcomes everyone who is interested in learning about native plants, stewardship, sustainable mountain agriculture, and/or would just enjoy getting their hands in the dirt to appreciate gardens and nature. We are all about helping improve the Marshall Library’s grounds & gardens and providing an outdoor environmental educational amenity for the local Community—and for tourists—and especially for local youth organizations. We are often referred to as Marshall Native Gardens (MNG) and Marshall Native Gardens Initiative as MNGI.
Contact us at madison.county.gardens@gmail.com with your questions or just drop in at one of our monthly work day and garden parties, which happen every third Saturday morning starting at 9:30am.
Also, look though these webpages to learn all about our projects and programs…
We love native plants and teaching folks to identify and appreciate native plants! You may ask “why bother about native vs. nonnative plants?” Well, there are a lot of reasons to go native… but the short answer is because non-natives take the place of native plants without sustaining the environment. Our native plants create a sense of place and the variety of native plant and animal species is truly impressive. Without native plants there are fewer insects, native pollinators, and native birds and wildlife. Native populations of birds have plummeted, which I’m sure you’ve noticed. So, as we say “native plants are the building blocks of a healthy environment”. We are so fortunate to live in western North Carolina, with one of the richest variety of native plants in the world to help sustain us and our natural heritage.
We have been working on our landscape garden plans and related projects for over a decade to transform the library’s 4.2 acre grounds into native plant demonstration gardens and community educational gardens. We started this process by removing invasive plants and replacing them with a variety of diverse native plants. We have built walking paths, aesthetic fencing, deck seating areas, and many themed demonstration gardens to allow visitors to see and identify native plants in a variety of growing environments. The hope is that folks will get an understanding of why native plants are so important and fall in love with them and will want to plant them in their own gardens and conserve them in our public lands.
Marshall Native Gardens 