New pollinator garden opens at Blevins Gap

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. ( WHNT ) — Volunteers and visitors gathered at Blevins Gap Tuesday to celebrate the official opening of Marie’s Garden.

Named after Marie Bostick, the executive director of the Land Trust of North Alabama, the garden is geared towards native pollinator species.

“Pollinators are just so important to our ecosystem and they’re obviously having a tough time nowadays with our development and you know, breaks in their habitat and the declining of plants and everything,” she said, “so it was just something we felt like we really needed to educate people about.”

Tim Gells, the Education Director at the Land Trust, said visitors of all ages can learn from the garden about the importance of native plants and insects.

“This is a place where people can come simply experience the garden and learn from the things they see but in addition to that, it’s a place where we can conduct workshops, where we can bring out children’s programs,” said Gells, “things like that we can do just to get the word out about what people can do for the biodiversity of North Alabama in their own yards.”

Marie said pollinator species in North Alabama are threatened by shrinking habitat and a lack of native plant species.

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“A lot of time we pick non-native plants for our gardens,” she said. “They’re pretty, I understand, but there are also pretty natives and it’s so important to know that native plants are so important to our ecosystem and that’s so important for our pollinators.”

Tim said pollinators support life of all sizes–from the smallest insect to the tallest gardener.

“Pollinators are an element in the bigger picture. We have a web of biodiversity that we’re all a part of and pollinators serve as a key part of plants and plants are the foundation of our entire food chain for our entire way of life,” he said, “so to support pollinators is to support the ecosystem as a whole.”

Marie said the garden is a result of the hard work of over 150 volunteers over the course of a year and a half. Its foundation is made of rock from construction on neighboring Cecil Ashburn Drive and 89 different species were planted. Marie said she hopes visitors are inspired to replicate its design in their own gardens.

“You can do this in your own yard, and again, it’s important to learn that it’s native species,” she said. “They are pretty, and you can plant them in your own yard and attract so many birds and butterflies and bees.”

Blevens Gap is part of the Land Trust of North Alabama and is bordered by Cecil Ashburn Drive. When the roadway was widened in 2020 , Marie said the Land Trust was left with extra space on the side of the road. She said several donors approached her about wanting to help finance a project.

“They gave us a place for the community to come together and experience and see just how important pollinators are and the natural native plants that we have in our community are,” she said.

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