The Enchanted Garden is a sustainable, community-based teaching garden for all ages located adjacent to HCLS Miller Branch and Historical Center. See a video here, and photos of the garden activities on our flickr page.
- Discover Enchanted Garden classes happening now!
- Learn more about the donation opportunities at the Enchanted Garden.
Howard County Library System’s (HCLS) Enchanted Garden is now an official Monarch Waystation as certified by MonarchWatch. The garden features a habitat beneficial to butterflies. HCLS’ curriculum educates students about the monarch’s life cycle and current plight. Click here to see the Monarch Waystations map
The new Monarch Waystation Trail is a network of outdoor education venues that feature Monarch Waystations, and offers a fun, family-friendly way to discover the beauty of the butterflies and locations where monarchs flourish.
Vision: Growing Healthy Habits
A quarter-acre parcel adjacent to the Children’s area, the Enchanted Garden’s primary focus is a teaching garden.
The demonstration gardening area features a variety of vegetables, herbs, and flowers planted in raised beds, including:
- Pizza garden
- Multisensory Garden: lavender, hosta, blue fescue grass, thyme, and rosemary
- Herbal Apothecary Garden: echinacea, aloe, lemon balm, and sage
- Staff picks: vegetables that HCLS Miller Branch staff like
- Super Foods: vibrant colored vegetables like broccoli, spinach, chard, tomatoes, beets, and sweet potatoes
- Three Season Salad
- Pumpkin Patch
- Go Native-Howard County Garden Club sponsors this lovely selection of native flowers. Here is a guide to the plants: Go Native Guide
Enchanted Garden Explorer Packs
Visit the Enchanted Garden and experience nature with Explorer Packs for families. Each pack contains a seasonal self-guided activity and supplies. Available at the Children’s Research Desk.
Try out Explorer Packs, available for check out for use in our Enchanted Garden. Each season a new theme is introduced, and packs include a self-guided activity that would invite participants to use their senses, to explore the garden and report their discoveries in words and or pictures.
Field Guide
If you are interested in the plants found in the Enchanted Garden, this Field Guide introduces you to their properties and beneficial uses. You may also borrow this guide in printed form from the Miller Branch for use while you visit the garden.
Get Involved: Classes and Clubs
The garden is a community-based teaching garden and we are thankful for the partnership and support of so many organizations and individuals that have collaborated with HCLS.
Join one of our youth garden clubs:
- Green Fingers (ages 6 – 8)
- Tween Sprouts (ages 9 – 11)
- Enchanted Garden Youth Corps (ages 12 – 15)
If you have any questions, please contact:
Howard County Library System
9411 Frederick Road
Ellicott City, MD 21042
Phone: 410.313.7799
