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‘Like a sponge'
Workshops on rain gardens celebrate the idea's environmental, aesthetic benefits
Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Submitted photo
This rain garden in Talbot County was the first one designed by Sarah Hilderbrand, education director at Environmental Concern. The garden was then created by employees at Talbot County extension office and master gardeners.
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Rain gardens are an idea that is just starting to "take root" in the wider consciousness, according to Sarah Hilderbrand, education director at Environmental Concern. "It is getting a lot of good publicity right now," she said Monday afternoon.
Two hands-on workshops will be presented Saturday to cover the basics on using native plants to create a planting in a traditionally wet, low-lying area of a yard or near a gutter spout. A rain garden is a planted depression designed to absorb runoff from such areas as roofs, driveways and compacted lawn.
Environmental Concern is a nonprofit headquartered in St. Michael's with a mission to promote public understanding and stewardship of wetlands. One of Hilderbrand's colleagues at Environmental Concern, Debbie Johnson, will help present the two free workshops on Oct. 16, one for the public and one for teachers, at St. Mary's College of Maryland. Johnson, a SMCM alumna, along with Jackie Takacs, watershed restoration specialist for the Maryland Sea Grant Extension Program and an instructor at St. Mary's College, will teach participants to design and select plants and give tips on installation and maintenance and explain the environmental benefits of creating such a rain garden.
There are multiple benefits of such a garden, Hilderbrand said.
A rain garden can reduce runoff and erosion and help deal with excess rainwater, helping to "kind of soak it up like a sponge," she said. Some experts suggest that a rain garden can mimic the natural absorption and pollutant removal activities of a forest or a meadow or a prairie and can absorb runoff more efficiently, sometimes as much as 30 to 40 percent more than a standard lawn.
"We are basically creating this place to hold stormwater for a short time to allow for sediment or nutrients to settle out and be taken out by the plant materials before it goes into the waterways," Takacs said.
In addition, rain gardens can be beautiful, incorporating plants like goldenrod, black-eyed Susans and New York aster.
"They are great butterfly gardens and songbird gardens as well," Hilderbrand said.
Once established, rain gardens are low maintenance compared to a grass lawn.
Though a homeowner can spend as much as they want creating a rain garden, a bonus is that they don't have to. And in years where the area struggles with drought conditions, a rain garden focuses planting where it is less likely to suffer the worst effects of the lack of rain.
"It is a very basic concept," Hilderbrand said.
The first rain garden workshop will run from 9 a.m. to noon and is designed specifically for the general public. People don't already have to be gardeners to participate, Takacs said.
"They can be a total gardening novice," she said.
The second workshop will be offered from 1 to 4 p.m. and is designed for teachers who might want to initiate a rain garden project at their school and include it as part of their science curriculum. Participants are asked to be prepared to dress to work in the garden, as the workshops will start work on establishing a rain garden near the college's Campus Center.
Saturday's workshops are being sponsored by the college, Maryland Sea Grant Extension Program, St. Mary's River Watershed Association and Environmental Concern.
Takacs said she and others at the college are hoping that workshops like this one — workshops that pass on best management practices that anyone can incorporate at home – will become a regular monthly event eventually.
Right now, however, Takacs is just hoping for a good turnout at Saturday's events. She sees rain gardens as a win-win. "You get twice the bang for your buck with rain gardens — they help protect our local rivers and stream by removing nutrients and sediments and look beautiful while doing it," she said.
If you want to go
The public is invited to a free rain garden workshop Saturday, Oct. 16, that starts at 9 a.m. in Cole Cinema at the Campus Center at St. Mary's College of Maryland. Participants will get hands-on instruction outside by helping to install a nearby garden. Area teachers looking for new ideas for their classrooms are invited to come to a similar free workshop the same day and same place starting at 1 p.m. Participants are asked to pre-register by contacting Jacqueline Takacs at 240-393-6508 or jutakacs@smcm.edu.
