Marshy Garden at The Soil Factory

The Marshy Garden project is a living, restorative, and scalable artform. Through cooperative design vision and native plant installation, what was once a monoculture turf lawn and debris dumping ground, is now transforming into an ecological oasis and experimental site for local restoration. The project’s principal objective is to increase flora & fauna biodiversity through the growing, planting, and caring of native plants. This increase in plantings enable the attraction of both generalist and host-specific insect, bird, and mammal species, providing them with edible sustenance and ability to find shelter and nesting sites.  The project is managed by Ash Ferlito, an artist and skilled bird + moth ecologist, and Brandon Hoak, a trained designer and ecological gardener. They view the project through a lens of sculpture – architecture for animals – developing texture, topography, and interest through diverse plantings and habitat. “By viewing ourselves as a meaningful extension of our environment, knowing the vitality we can bring to it, we continue to work diligently, growing thousands of native plants from seed, planting them by hand, and tending to them as kin”.