Rain Garden Tour a Big Success!

June 16, 2002

Over 70 people visited rain gardens as a part of Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission's Yahara Lakes Week activities.

People saw first-hand six different rain gardens in various stages of development. One was under construction and didn't even have its plants yet, and another had been soaking up runoff from a parking lot for over three years.

The garden at the Willy Street Co-op will have almost a park-like feeling when it's completed. Applied Ecological Services recognized that patrons often walked through the narrow stretch of lawn behind the building along Jennifer Street when designing this rain garden. Walking paths and picnic areas will surround this large rain garden that will feature native species. The garden will capture runoff from the roof of Willy Street Co-op and a second garden will capture runoff from the parking lot.

Edgewood's rain gardens capture large volumes of runoff, largely from campus parking lots. Students involved with Edgewood College's Wingra Watershed Project and a community member associated with Friends of Lake Wingra helped plan and plant these gardens, much of it in terrible soil-compacted clay, covered with construction fill from previous building projects. Even in these poor soils, the plants are growing well and capturing much of the sediment and runoff from rain events (although there is some question as to how successful the plants will be in the long run as their roots reach deeper into the nasty compacted construction fill in some areas).

Sue Ellingson built her own rain garden in three hours. She designed and planted it herself after doing a little research and talking to Roger Bannerman. Not only is it beautiful, but it collects water from her rooftop and her neighbor's roof.

Roger Bannerman, a.k.a. Mr. Rain Garden, and his wife Jane had a festival-like atmosphere at their house for the tour. Banners and signs directed "tourists" to the right place and chocolates greeted those browsing literature. Roger and Jane also provided plant lists of what was in their gardens. At three years old, these gardens are the same age as Edgewood's, but collect runoff from the home's rooftop instead of parking lots.

Dave Shiffert worked with his landlord to create his rain garden last July. One could not tell that his garden was not even a year old. The 320 plants were thriving beautifully; collecting runoff from two rooftops.

The rain garden at the Schriebman Home in Middleton was especially interesting as Lynn Schriebman described how their neighbors continually had a water problem in their basement until they had the rain garden installed. Merely weeks old, plants were growing well and the neighbors now had a dry basement. Additionally, her five-year-old son could barely be torn away as this garden actually had a bit of standing water that attracted birds, dragonflies and frogs!