Our Story
Riverview Native Nursery was founded in 2012 by Martha Ferguson in order to fulfill a need in our community, because there were no native plant retail nurseries in our area. Since then, Riverview has sold tens of thousands of native grasses, perennials, trees, shrubs, and edible plants to people all throughout Northeast Indiana.
In 2025, the future care of Riverview was entrusted to Jay Rozelle. Like Martha, Jay and his team are deeply committed to sharing their knowledge and passion on native plants. Riverview exists to help increase the amount of native plants planted in neighborhoods all throughout Northeast Indiana and to help strengthen the connections between people and the natural world. We cannot regenerate ecosystems without planting lots of native plants!
Our Team
I am a landscape designer, a plant enthusiast, and I feel most at home in the forest. I hold a Masters degree in Environmental Education from Goshen College. Over the last twenty years, I have helped lead our other company, Rozelle Lawn & Landscape, from our founding as a traditional lawn/landscape company into one of the area’s leaders in ecological landscape design and lawn care. As we have worked with thousands of clients in neighborhoods all around Fort Wayne, many teens and young adults who have worked alongside me have been transformed as well.
Growing up, my family consistently implemented basic environmental practices like recycling and using hand-me-downs. We did the “green” thing without ever stopping to consider the deeper purpose behind our actions.
The real shift began in 2020 during the quarantine, with six of us packed into the house. My mom started noticing just how much daily waste we were accumulating. This lead her to initiate some very simple,but very impactful swaps. We adopted beeswax wraps instead of plastic wrap, started saving glass jars to use instead of plastic tupperware, and she even made an attempt at homemade laundry detergent. The moment our weekly trash was reduced from five or six bags down to just two, we were prompted to ask: “What else can we do?”
I haven’t stopped asking myself that question since. After earning my interior design degree, I entered the workforce at a large corporate home decor store and was appalled by the daily waste accumulation. I quickly discovered that, in that field, the core issue was stuff—the constant desire for new things with every minor snag or new trend. I still love interior design as a hobby, but I knew the industry’s inherent over-consumption wasn’t for me professionally. I wanted a career that allowed me to feel more connected with nature, and make a positive environmental impact, instead of contributing to its decline.
I’ve been with Rozelle Lawn & Landscape for about 2 years, and was so stoked when Jay asked me to take the lead at Riverview Native Nursery. When I first reached out to Jay a couple years ago, it was mostly just to pick his brain about where to even start if I wanted to try my hand in landscape design. When he offered me a part-time position on crew and assisting him in some design work, I jumped at the chance. I took that risk, hopeful that it would lead me to do something in my power to leave the world around me in better shape than I found it.
Being the lead at Riverview has taught me so much about taking care of the world around me, far beyond just recycling. I’ve grown incredibly fond of and passionate about environmental conservation and restoration using native plants. I’ve learned so much by simply observing things like birds feasting on flower heads, pollinators buzzing in my ear, or how rainwater pools in a fallen leaf, practically begging for a squirrel to come take a drink, and being patient while nature does its thing. It’s unbelievable how something so seemingly small can restore an entire ecosystem, with a little helping hand.
A deeper connection
Our Belief & Action
We have a special affinity with the Eel River, whose headwaters begin to flow about 1500 ft. south of our nursery. This land was formerly lived on and cared for by the Miami & Potawatomi Peoples and the Eel River, which they know as the Kenapekwamakwah Siipiiwi (snake fish river), is of great significance to them as well. We recognize our privilege of inheriting these lands as descendants of European settlers. It was our ancestors who removed forests, prairies, and wetland ecosystems that were once abundant here. Unfortunately, the land is barely recognizable as it once was.
We want to acknowledge that the current capitalist system is unsustainable and leads to disharmony and the destruction of ecosystems. This economic system and the ideology of endless, unchecked growth at all costs is the most pressing concern of our time. We are committed to learning and improving so that we find balance with the land and with one another. We still have much to learn.
We have canoed the Eel River many times, sitting low in a canoe down the steep banks of the river as a world of possibilities and magic opens up. We have experienced connections to great blue herons, bald eagles, beavers, muskrats, wild turkeys, deer, and the occasional otter. We’re working to restore similar connections to the land on which the Rozelle family lives and Riverview operates. We honor the land and those who lived here before us by caring for it and restoring it to a healthy, functionally-biodiverse space. When we restore these connections, it nourishes us and the many species of plants and animals that call this place home.
If you have had the chance to visit us, we trust that your spirit was nourished by this magical place. We ask that you return to the place you call home and begin the important work of planting and restoring the land on which you live. As you do, you will make healthy connections to those humans and the more-than-humans who live close by.
All places tell a story
Our Property
When we first moved here in May of 2013, the land was almost entirely mowed grass. There was little in form of habitat other than the large oak trees that towered over the lawn and provided food and shelter to countless species of birds. I loved the quiet of a Saturday morning, listening to the beautiful birdsongs as I sat out back drinking my coffee. I felt such an overwhelming sense of peace in those moments.
But then I would find myself spending much of my time mowing & fertilizing, spraying weeds, and raking leaves. While doing this familiar yard work, I found myself asking why I was even doing it in the first place. Did we even need all that grass? Was there a more meaningful way I could spend my time working in the yard?
Much has changed over the last 13 years with countless species of plants introduced to our four acre property. The land around our home has really come alive and begun to sing.
Remaining curious and not settling is the fuel that inspires all passionate gardeners. As we continue to ask the important question of how we can better care for our yards, we keep learning, growing, and becoming more responsible to this wonderful gift of life entrusted to our care.
What story is the land around your home telling you? What does the land want to become? Are you listening?
