Cold and Quiet in the Rain Garden

There hasn't been much going on in the rain garden these last few months. It's been our coldest winter on record with 6 snow events to date. We seldom have even one. The rain garden continues to function regardless of the kind of precipitation that falls. I used night lighting under the dried grasses this year and created a luminous focal point for those traveling past our property. Again, I am eager for spring to see if all my plants have survived the colder than normal temperatures we have endured through December and now also in January.

I attended a Sustainable Landscape' class yesterday. I've attended the class in prior years but there is always new material. This year's presentation on rain gardens was more informative and it was interesting to hear the questions and comments made by class participants. This concept of a 'rain garden' is still not fully understood by many be they seasoned gardeners or those just tentatively practicing new gardening skills. One comment by our instructor was very important to me and that was: municipalities have learned their lesson in the way in which they should handle storm water. The old concept of move it as quickly as possible and as far away as possible has been replaced. Today we realize that allowing the rain to slowly soak into our soils has benefits both environmentally and financially to name two of the most important challenges we are grappling with.

We are finally getting serious about alternative ways to manage storm water. The Falls Lake situation, with Raleigh pointing fingers at us as the main cause of their water quality problems, is creating more of a sense of urgency for individual citizens to do their part. We can make a difference although we are only a small portion of the whole problem. But we have started to solve the problem.