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In the Gardens

From the manicured elegance of the Rose Garden to the wilds of the Habitat Garden, you’re bound to find something to capture your interest among the 11 acres of Marin Art and Garden Center.

Explore the hillside Basketry Garden, take inspiration from the pollinator-friendly Sun Garden, and get tips for healthy harvests in the Edible Garden. And if you can’t make it out to the gardens today, we have plenty of suggestions, advice, and resources for you right here.

Garden Stories: A video series

Garden Manager Michael Bogart has his green thumb on the pulse of the gardens, day in and day out. This is the place to find his reports on what’s in bloom, going to seed, and all kinds of observations in between.

Michael’s Notes from the Gardens

Horticultural Advisory Committee

Keeping these 11-acre grounds consistently inviting, engaging, and enlightening is a challenge, and the Marin Art and Garden Center’s Horticultural Advisory Committee (HAC) was established in 2018 to provide guidance for the ongoing management of our gardens.

Led by Richard Turner, who has spent most of his career working in the realm of public horticulture, the HAC meets every six months to assess the gardens and plan for the future. Its team of professionals well versed in the world of public gardens offers a broad perspective from which to advise on the preservation, enhancement, and expansion of these gardens.

Committee Members

Richard G Turner, Chair
Landscape design and horticulture consultant

Christopher Carmichael
Research Affiliate and Associate Director Emeritus
University of California Botanical Garden

Shelagh Fritz
Program Manager
Alcatraz Gardens at Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy

Richard Kennedy, ASLA
Senior Principal
James Corner Field Operations

Meghan Ray
Garden Manager
Blake Gardens

Walden (Walt) Valen
Former Director
Strybing Arboretum

Stewart Winchester
Horticulturist and instructor
Merritt College

Jeff Wright
Nursery Facilities Manager
Flora Grubb Gardens

Marin Art and Garden Center Board, staff, and volunteer representatives:

Thomas Perry
Retired nurseryman and Board President Marin Art and Garden Center

Jessica Fairchild
Architect and Center trustee

Michael Bogart
Garden Manager
Marin Art and Garden Center

Merrily Labarthe
Volunteer
Marin Art and Garden Center

More from around the grounds

Q & A
with the Garden Team

Our garden team gets a lot of questions from visitors on the grounds about our plants, their care, and how we manage our landscape. Fill out the form to the right and submit a question of your own. 

Resources

Rose Care Calendar

Download the care schedule we follow, which is adapted from a Bay Area rose expert and tailored to meet the specific needs of our environment here.

Events in the Gardens

Check here for upcoming workshops, lectures and other events you will enjoy.

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Website funded by a generous gift from Phoebe Cowles

IRS Guidelines for Gifts from Donor Advised Funds to Support MAGC Events

Thank you for your interest in giving to the Marin Art & Garden Center events from your Donor Advised Fund (DAF) or Family Foundation.

We sincerely appreciate your generosity and support!

To ensure your gift follows the current IRS guidelines for DAF/Family Foundation support of an event, we would like to share the below guidelines with you.

  • Raffle tickets, tickets to galas and other special events, auction items, and benefits conferred in connection with a DAF/foundation grant are not permitted.
    • IRS has specifically ruled that fair market value associated with fundraising events cannot be separated, a practice known as “bifurcation.”
      • For example, with Edible Garden, if the price of the ticket is $200 and the FMV fair market value (non-tax-deductible amount) is designated to be $50, the donor must pay from sources other than her DAF/foundation for the full value of the ticket ($200) and not just for the non-tax-deductible amount ($50).
    • We recommend you confer with your financial advisor to confirm if any of these examples of how donors may still use their DAF to support an event would work for you:
      • A donor could sponsor the event, and not attend, and pay fully out of the DAF/foundation.
      • A donor could sponsor the event using DAF/foundation funds and attend by purchasing an individual ticket through non-DAF/foundation funds.
      • A donor could sponsor the event, join the event as a guest of another donor/table guest, and pay fully out of the DAF/foundation.
      • A donor could sponsor the event and host the afforded number of people at their chosen level as long as they pay for the seats at the lowest ticket price ($200 for Edible Garden) outside of their DAF.
        • As an example, a $1,500 sponsor that covers 2 guests, could pay for their sponsorship with $400 from a different source of funds, and then give an additional gift of $1,100 out of their DAF.

 

Please email Tod Thorpe, Director of Development at tod.thorpe@maringarden.org to discuss your gift to Marin Art and Garden Center