On November 8, 2025, the Baton Rouge community came together in a big way to install a brand-new, large-scale native plant pollinator garden in the front of the main branch of the East Baton Rouge Public Library (EBRPL). “The idea bloomed after seeing community interest and engagement with other gardening programs, such as Seed Swaps and Gardening Talks at the library, as well as the Seed Libraries at EBRPL, which have been extremely successful,” said Allison Gianelloni, Community Programming Librarian at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library, and Vice President of the GBR Wild Ones chapter. The native plant pollinator garden seemed like the next step,” she added.
The Louisiana Wild Society (LWS) hosted a site preparation day on November 7, where 15 volunteers hauled and spread the soil, mulch, and pine straw, re-aligned the drainage, and set out the plants according to the landscape plan. All materials were donated from local businesses, Mossbunker, Jim Stone Co., and Plant Barn. The plants were grown locally by Jess Cole of Sweet Fern Landscapes for LWS.
The next day, 70 volunteers from the public helped plant 370 plants, and enjoyed a day of learning about native plants and the pollinators they support, visiting the Seed Library, and attending workshops and activities.
Just outside the entrance to the library, community partners and vendors, including Wild Ones Greater Baton Rouge, the Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater Baton Rouge, Baton Roots, and many others, were set up to interact with the 300+ visitors that stopped in.
Photos courtesy of Louisiana Wild Society and EBRPL Library.
“The Louisiana Wild Society is thrilled and honored to have collaborated on the “Re-Wild the Library” project with the Main Library on Goodwood,” said LWS Board Member Jess Cole. “The utmost purpose of LWS is education on and connection with the natural world through community engagement. To be able to grow, install and foster a mass native planting at the entrance of such an important community space is precious to us. We intend the space to be just the beginning of other collaborations with the library as well as something beautiful to learn from and share for years to come,” she added.
As part of the Re-Wild the Library event, the Baton Rouge Botanic Garden Foundation hosted their free monthly Garden Discoveries event, which featured a presentation by Janine Kharey, President of Wild Ones Greater Baton Rouge, titled, “What You Plant Can Make a Difference.” The presentation highlighted the importance of native plants and keystone species and how they are the foundations for healthy ecosystems. The audience was well-engaged and even gasped aloud when Janine told them that she has fireflies in her urban yard after restoring the natural habitat in her yard. Sadly, fireflies are quite rare in yards in Baton Rouge due to habitat loss, lack of knowledge about their life cycles, and extensive mosquito spraying programs. Immediately after the presentation, participants went on a tour of the Baton Rouge Botanic Gardens adjacent to the library.
The day wrapped-up with a community litter clean-up led by River McGlone and Keep Tigertown Beautiful.
Gianelloni said that library staff find it rewarding to see people stop and read about the native plants in the garden, and everyone is excitedly waiting for springtime when the plants will be even more established. The library plans to continue to host “community gardening days” for maintenance and clean-up. Louisiana Wild Society will continue to work with the library to maintain the plants, but once the plants are established, they should be able to mostly maintain themselves – the biggest perk of planting natives!
If the garden continues to be successful at this first location, the library will consider installing similar large ones at other locations.
Thank you to everyone who planned and participated!
