How do I love thee rain garden, let me count the ways

I've been couped up in the house the last week with a nasty virus so naturally I also got cabin fever.  My excursions have been limited to brief walks through the gardens on nice days.  I always stop at the rain garden for awhile, just to see if anything is poking up anticipating spring.  I got to thinking about all the benefits our rain garden gives, some you may not even have thought of.  I'll jot them down:

1. Diverts rain water from our City's already overburdened storm water infrastructure system.
2. Helps keep plants in my yard hydrated and growing.
3. Lessens my dependence on City water during droughts.
4.Helps improve water quality for folks downstream.
5. Prevents additional erosion in Ellerbe Creek across the street by not being directed into it during heavy storm events.
6. Flowering rain garden plants draw pollinators to benefit other plants in their process of reproduction.
7.  Provides an attractive addition to our landscape.
8. Creates a diverse variety of seeds for birds winter needs.
9. Provides teachable moments when neighbors or walkers stop to inquire 'Just what is a rain garden?'
10. Inspires me to find other ways to help conserve resources and protect our environment.

So this Valentine's Day I'm giving the rain garden a rich brown chocolaty layer of fresh compost.

Happy Valentine's Day

North Carolina's Challenges - Energy versus Clean Water

In my last post, I talked about what alternatives we might have to using rain gardens to control and clean water runoff from storm events.  These challenges concerning water quality have come about because of the vast popularity of our state to retirees, families looking for a good quality of life environments to raise their children and those looking to become employed in one of our higher tech companies among other groups.

More people means more need for water that is drinkable.  And our state is creating and expanding it's already large urban areas.  This translates to more roof tops, more sidewalks and pavement, none of which absorb rainwater and and call for the creation of systems to channel and control the rainwater runoff.

At the same time, we as a state face higher unemployment because of global competition for jobs.  Our new Governor mentions several approaches to strenghtening our states economy: expand agricultural exports, unleash our energy resources, harness new technology in education to compete globally, among several others.

The approach I am most worried about and that I want to bring up today is 'unleashing our energy resources'.  In Governor McCrory's campaign speeches he continually mentioned the opportunity of 'Fracking' to harvest large quantities of natural gas locked in shale deposits in many parts of our state.  Have you ever seen the site of a Fracking operation?  Google it and look at what would become a part of the landscape. A fracking site requires many acres of land to hold large containers filled with the chemicals injected into the ground,  acres for the semi tractor-trailer rigs to deliver the chemicals and water needed for the injections,  very large lined pools to hold the chemical laden water that comes back up after it has shattered the shale, storage tanks for the gas extracted and let's not forget the roadway that must be built to access this new site.  Did I mention the equipment needed to force the water into the ground and extract the gas?  That equipment is a minuscule portion of the operation.

Our state has large beautiful natural areas for everyone to enjoy and a still considerable amount of land used for agriculture.

What happens to tourism when these fracking sites begin popping up all over?  Will you have to angle your camera so that you get a picture of the rolling hills in the Appalachians but not the large scar in the land of the fracking site?  If things go bloody wrong and ground water is contaminated from chemical laden fracking solutions, is the contamination reversible ??? and at what cost? to the people who must now buy bottled or trucked in water for their every need, to the loss of tourism, to the actual remediation needed to decontaminate the ground water if it's even possible, to the environment as a whole?

I hope that more people start asking these questions, doing their homework and making their voices heard.  There are more energy resources we can 'unleash' that are not as physically harmful to our land and all creatures that dwell on it.

If Not a Rain Garden, Then What?

Ellerbe Creek restoration 1st year after completion.

Ellerbe Creek restoration in 3+ year. (same location as picture 1)

As you can see from the above pictures, this very expensive stream renovation done by the Army Corp of Engineers a few years ago is deteriorating.  

One of the reasons this is happening is because intermittent streams and storm water run-off system pipes dump large quantities of water into the creek after a rain event from the surrounding urban neighborhood.

At the most recent Durham District 2 Partners Against Crime meeting, the condition of the 'No Mow' zone around the restored creek was criticized for it's impact on safety in our park that this creek runs through.  Summer brings a tangle of head high weeds in addition to young trees and shrubs planted to help stabilize the creeks banks.  Parents in the neighborhood are deeply concerned about the safety of their children near this wild area.  They question whether it is safe to let children play in the surrounding areas play ground because they cannot see what's lurking in the undergrowth.  A large portion of the park's play areas had to be sacrificed to create these 'No Mow' buffers so play spaces have become much smaller.

Again, I would like to remind everyone that part  of this problem could have been mitigated by the installation of more rain gardens in the surrounding neighborhood.

Why would this have any relevance to you if you don't live in this neighborhood you may ask?  And the answer is there is always someone that lives downstream from everybody.  There will always be a community struggling with meeting the demand for clean water with a water source that has developed poor water quality and requires expensive, expansive fixes.

Much work needs to be done to design creek and stream restorations through urban areas that are compatible with the neighborhoods.  

But perhaps we could start lending a hand by installing rain gardens in our yards and solving a small part of the problem.  We all need to provide input to community officials about new ideas and solutions that emphasize partnerships.

Fall Clean-ups for your Rain Garden

If your rain garden is situated near large trees, you're probably wondering what to do about all those leaves in the rain garden.  I am often asked if it's okay to leave them there.  My answer is
no. 

Although you may wish to add a layer of composted leaves as a top dressing to help nourish your rain garden plants, it's not a good idea to let a heavy build-up of leaves accumulate.  Many low growing sedums and other ground cover plants will be blocked from receiving winter sunlight if leaves have piled up over them.

So what is the best way to rid the rain garden of the leaves?  Since many of the sedums and creeping jenny that make such wonderful ground covers would be damaged by raking, I recommend the use of a leaf blower.  This removes the leaves to be collected and taken to the compost pile.  Many find leaf blower noises to be annoying and that would include me but they safely remove unwanted items without damaging your other plants.  They also give your back, arms and shoulders a break from the constant raking motion.

There are both gas powered and electric varieties to choose from and some allow you to dial the force of the air up and down.  A light weight electric type with the variable air force mechanism would be my best choice.  Good sources are Home Depot, Lowes and other large home improvement stores for the best selection.  Don't rule out checking your locally owned garden center as they may provide excellent advice as well as the product you need.

Decorative Grasses in the Rain Garden

Fall is upon us and soon we'll be settling into the winter weather season.  If your rain garden functions both as a storm water retention site and a decorative feature of your yard, you'll be looking at the grasses and wondering what to do.

By now, most grasses in USDA zones 5, 6 and even 7A have turned brown or beige.  Frosts have stopped the production of chlorophyll in the grass blades and they have died to ground level turning brown in the process.  Here in the Piedmont, our grasses are just beginning the color change that will last through winter.  The brown to beige grasses are quite interesting as they sway with each bit of winter wind.  I consider them one of the more attractive features of my winter rain garden.

So now is not the time to cut them back while tidying up the garden.  At the base of each grass blade is a tiny tube from which the grass blades sprout in spring.  Think of this tube as a straw.  Think of winter snows and rain running down into this straw and soaking into the roots.

I'm sure many of you have seen clumps of grasses with the center of the clump gone.  This is because the roots in that area have rotted out.  New growth forms around edges causing the 'ring' of grass you sometimes see.

Grasses should be trimmed back in early spring.  Since each variety comes out of dormancy at a slightly different time, you will need to check the clumps during your winter garden inspections and look for the tiny new green shoots emerging.  I usually cut back all of our grasses during February in North Carolina when the new shoots are about two inches in height.  If you wait too late in the spring, you risk chopping the tops out of this summers grass display.

Be sure to use sharp pruners and wear long sleeves and gloves when cutting back the clumps.  The dry brittle blades can irritate skin.

Enough technical info for today.  

Look for my next post that describes my hike through the Glenstone Preserve and information about the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Associations good work in promoting clean water and healthy creeks, streams and lakes.

Cheryl

The King's Daughters Inn 3 Year Old Rain Garden

The Maturing Rain Garden

It hardly seems that only three years ago there was a gaping hole in the front yard of the Inn.  A picture from my Rain Garden Handbook shows one gallon plants in plastic pots sitting atop the soil mix, ready to be planted.  Now, we enjoy the seasonal colors of blue indigo, hosta, siberian iris and especially the fantastic show of late summer grasses in bloom.

Our job now with this rain garden?  Keep windblown weed seeds from establishing and choking out our intended plant mix, and one unexpected mutation of a variegated hybrid reverting back to it's plain leaf form and spreading like crazy.  But Mother Nature is full of surprises so we dutifully get on hands and knees and dig roots of the unwanted invader.  

Beyond those small maintenance tasks, we can take pad and pencil and multiply the number of inches of rain by the capacity of our rain garden.  We humbly congratulate ourselves on the fact that in it's three year existence, this garden has diverted nearly 920,000 gallons of rain water from the overburdened storm water system of our City of Durham.  

Downtown areas with their large expanses of impervious surfaces create huge volumes of storm water runoff.  For us in Durham, this runoff is dumped mainly into a tributary of the Ellerbe Creek.  The Inn's location adjacent to downtown helps mitigate part of the volume of water from storm events.  

Thank you Colin and Deanna Crossman for the foresight and commitment to be a pioneer in new storm water management practices.

Rain Garden Celebrates Ten Years of Rain Water Collection

Just for the fun of it, I decided to look up precipitation amounts for the last ten years that we have had a rain garden.  I wanted to determine just what kind of impact our little 'garden' was actually making on preventing polluted run-off and preservation of waterways.

IT'S OFFICIAL!  From 2002 until October of 2012, our rain garden has diverted 210,000 gallons of water from entering our city's storm water system.  Add to that another 100,000 gallons that accumulated in our rain barrels and we have a grand total of 310,000 gallons of rain water.  The rain garden water has been properly filtered and entered the water table cleaned and ready for reuse. The rain barrel water went directly to thirsty plants that didn't seem to mind the lack of filtered quality.

We also used the rain barrel water to fill our water gardens. Fish don't do well in chemically treated water so turning on the tap is never an option.

Now if we can just convince more neighbors how big an impact is possible, we can make a difference.

If your state allows the collection of rain water, please consider how you can do your part in protecting the precious 2% of all our planets water that is actually consumable.  The other 98% forms our oceans and requires desalinization to be potable or used for irrigation purposes at considerable expense because of the energy needed to complete the process.

Tell me how many gallons of rain water you are able to save in your rain garden.  Remember, 1000 square feet of impervious surface with one inch of rain will yield aprox. 638 gallons of rain water.