Rain Garden Designs for Parks, Roads, Yards
Landscape Design Improves Water Quality, Decreases Maintenance Cost
Jul 23, 2009
Rain gardens slow runoff from parking lots, roof tops, and cleared land and allow water to soak into the ground. Soil filters most particulate matter and some chemicals. Therefore, fewer pollutants reach rivers, streams, and reservoirs.
Rain gardens are another win-win situation for the economy and the environment. More and more people are learning that going green can also save money. Landscape contractors, property owners, and homeowners alike are getting rid of grass monocultures and planting vibrant beds that incorporate a variety of flowering shrubs, herbaceous plants and wildflowers. More drought-tolerant plants planted in rain gardens mean less time and money spent mowing and less pollution entering the air from power mowers.
Rain Garden Design in Parks
An agreement has been reached between York County and the Colonial Soil and Water Conservation District (CSWCD) to use light tilling techniques, plant more wildflowers, and develop rain gardens to demonstrate landscaping practices that reduce costs. Signs point out that these practices improve the appearance of parks and highway buffers.
At New Quarter Park near Williamsburg, the plants also attract more wildlife while they increase the ability of soil to filter pollutants from rain and runoff, boost the amount of water that seeps through soil to recharge water supplies, and decrease the cost of county maintenance. Visitors enjoy the colors of the wildflowers and see birds and butterflies that are attracted to them for food. A sign informs them about planting practices that help the environment, provide natural beauty to open areas, and cost less to maintain since they are drought resistant and require infrequent mowing. The sign explains that the wildflowers are doing much more than just looking pretty and that landscape designed to help the environment can also save money.
Rain Garden Design Surrounding Highways
In the Maryland town of Edmondson, planners have embraced the environmental movement by ripping up roads and replacing them with narrower streets made with porous bricks, rain gardens to soak up runoff, and drought-resistant trees for shade. In the Washington D.C. suburban area, where large areas are paved or covered by housing, rainwater gets little opportunity to be filtered of pollutants before rushing to Chesapeake Bay tributary rivers and even less chance to infiltrate to refill aquifers that are natural underground storage tanks for fresh drinking water.
Green streets have been built in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, but they are less common on the East Coast of the United States and in small, suburban towns. Planners in Edmondson are proud to be replacing the old infrastructure with something so novel and so green in a region that is so tied to the lore of Chesapeake Bay blue crabs, oysters, and watermen.
Moisture-loving plants will absorb and filter stormwater, but one of the big benefits in an area so covered in concrete will be the welcoming shade trees that are promised.
Rain Gardens in Landscapes Attractive Way to Go Green
Home gardeners can observe rain fall and flow in their yards. Plants can be added to depressions and the downhill ends can be damned with logs and branches to slow water outflow. If there are no natural depressions, a hole can be dug and filled with rocks at the bottom and sand and soil on top. The low end of the hole can be damned to prevent water from escaping too quickly. The rain garden should be filled with bog plants such as iris, ferns, and jack-in-the-pulpit. A local nursery can be consulted for native plant suggestions.
Rain gardens are perfect for anyone looking for environmentally-friendly landscaping ideas or simply interested in nurturing a beautiful and healthy landscape.
Read more about native plant selection
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