Native & edible plants for your landscape and for the butterflies, birds, and bees.
About
Riverview Native Nursery was founded in 2012 by Martha Ferguson after she discovered that our area had no native plant retail nurseries. Riverview only offers native perennials, grasses, trees and shrubs, and edible plants. Most of the plants are local genotypes and the rest are from this ecoregion. These plants originated in northeastern Indiana and are genetically adapted to our soils, weather, bloom times and wildlife.
Riverview is a DNR licensed nursery and all of our stock is inspected by the DNR. Riverview is listed as a native plant nursery by the Indiana Native Plant Society, Indiana DNR and Monarch Watch.
Martha approached Jay Rozelle about the possibility of him assuming the responsibility of care for Riverview beginning in 2025. Jay is a Master Naturalist and has a Masters degree in Environmental Education from Goshen College. His focus of study and work as a landscape designer has been on sustainable and environmentally friendly lawn care and landscaping. Jay consults with homeowners about how they can work to bring good health and beauty to the land around their homes through ethically conscious practices.
Our Belief and Action
We have a special affinity for the Eel River. Our property lies on former Miami & Potawatomi land, about 1,000 ft. north of the headwaters of the Eel River. The Eel River is a 94-mile tributary of the Wabash River, and is of great significance to many local Native American Tribes who once called this place home. In broad context, we recognize our role in harming these lands as descendants of European settlers who removed forests, prairies, and wetland ecosystems that were once here.
My family has canoed the Eel River many times, venturing out and experiencing connections to birds, beavers, muskrats, wild turkeys, deer, and an occasional otter. We are working to restore similar connections to the land we live on and of which Riverview Nursery operates. We honor the land and those people 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, our pets and farm animals, and the many species of plants and wildlife that call this place home.
We hope that if you have a chance to come visit, you will be nourished as well. If you are inspired, we call you to return to your place of home and begin the beautiful work of building healthy connections to your neighbors, those humans and the more-than-humans who live close by.
"Action on behalf of life transforms... As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us."
Robin Wall-Kimmerer