When the Licking County Library asked for a mural that was floral and Ohio-inspired, the first thing that came to Bryn Du Head Artist Sarah Gray’s mind was native plants.
The 34-year-old artist completed the 33-foot mural in collaboration with her students and community members.
The mural is located permanently in public meeting room A of the downtown Newark location of the Licking County Library. The three linen panels feature nine Ohio native plants and a tiger swallowtail butterfly.
The first panel features black eyed susans, jacob’s ladders, and wild geraniums. The tiger swallowtail butterfly, also native to Ohio, was added to welcome people into the room. The second panel features milkweeds, echinaceas, and blue false indigos. The third panel features swamp sunflowers, spiderworts, and sky blue asters.
“I wanted to play with imagination a little bit, it’s more of a dream meadow. Some of these would not necessarily be growing together. Some of these flowers are much more shade plants, some of these flowers are not necessarily found in a meadow but would be found in a forest. They are real flowers, but they’re represented in a way that is a little bit more silly and fun,” Gray said.
The public meeting room space is often booked by different organizations for meetings, speakers and special events. So after the mural was installed in January, Gray wanted to have a day where the public could come see the mural and learn about native plants and gardening.
“A big part of what I like to do is think– how can I bring different community members together? How can I diversify who was a part of a project?” Gray said. “I always try to involve as many people as I can and make sure that all things I do are multifaceted and hopefully have a little bit for everyone and kind of inspire people to bring this into their own lives as well.”
The traditional definition of a mural is artwork painted directly on the wall. Gray has moved to accept a more modern definition.
“I usually try to do a format which can be removed and moved if needed. If for some reason they wanted to move these, it would be difficult but they could be taken down,” Gray said.
The creation of the mural began in September 2024. After a full-color mock-up and multiple sketches, Gray held two different week-long camps for people to learn and paint the mural in the fall. She then worked on it during private lessons with a few additional students. In December, she completed the painting details herself. The mural was installed in January.
“People came in at different stages so some people helped paint the background. Some people did color blocking for the grass, or provided the background that was then painted over or helped me map out some of the leaf shapes and stuff like that,” Gray said. “I was very proud of this piece. My students definitely did a great job.”
The mural, aside from bringing a floral liveliness to the room, is meant to celebrate some of Ohio’s native wildlife.
As The Nature Conservancy explains, native plants are a foundation for a healthy ecosystem. They support wildlife by providing food and a habitat. They also promote healthy soil and water.
According to Pollinator Pathway “native plants are critical sources of food and habitat for butterflies, wild bees, birds and other wildlife and form the base of the food web that all species (including our own) depend on.”
Native plants are also more ecologically fit for the area as they have adapted and evolved with the climate. According to The Nature Conservancy, this allows them to be more resilient to climate change.
Unlike a lot of nonnative plants with shallow root systems, native plants strengthen root soil and bring more nutrients to the area.
Amy Mock, of Licking County Pollinator Pathway, explained that one of the crucial benefits of native plants is that they evolved with the native insects and pollinators.
“Many of the pollinaters can only eat one thing. They are very picky eaters. The butterflies can get nectar from a number of species, but the monarch babies, the larvae, the caterpillars can only eat leaves of milkweed. So when you don’t have these things around, they can’t reproduce,” Mock said.
This is true for most of the Ohio native butterfly populations.
Gray, an avid gardener herself, strives to include a variety of host plants in her gardens. She, like most people, doesn’t only plant native plants. But she has some gardening plots– or “pocket prairies” which she consciously devotes to native plants.
Read more: Licking County Pollinator Pathway to host workshop series about new “pocket prairies” initiative
According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, 22%, or more than 500 of Ohio’s plant species growing in the wild, are not native to Ohio. Some of these nonnative plants can become invasive and threaten native plants in natural areas.
Many invasive plants were introduced by accident or for ornamental purposes without the knowledge or thought of the ramifications.
Plants like the Bradford pear or dame’s rocket are both invasive, yet objectively pretty.
“When you’re lacking that educational component, then you’re just like oh, this is nice. You will let something go. Then it just gets worse and worse and worse,” Gray said.
Although some invasive plants have beneficial properties and just need to be controlled, others can choke out entire populations of native plants.
“Even in an area in which natives were already established and which they are happily growing, a lot of invasives grow quickly and grow first. They take over, kind of like a blanket over the ground, very abrasive in that way,” Gray said.
Whenever Gray sees a plant sprout up in her own garden that she didn’t plant she immediately tries to identify it to ensure it is not invasive.
“It’s all incredibly in-depth, and there’s just so much to it. That’s why it’s so important to have so many organizations, like Pollinator Pathway, who are very well versed and just have a plethora of knowledge so that you can ask and find out and see what you may,” Gray said.
Often, there are native alternatives to nonnative and invasive plants. Gray explains there’s a native plant for everywhere. There is one that loves the sun, one that loves the forest and one that loves the swamp. Both Mock and Gray encourage individuals to plant native plants.
“Growing a two by two foot patch of native plants is an easy way to jump into thinking about what is this place where I live? What are my interactions with the plants and the animals?” Mock said.
Gray featured swamp sunflowers in the mural. She also has them in her garden.
“My swamp sunflower fed a number of chubby little birds over the winter,” Gray laughed.
Ella Diehl writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.