This Week:


 Residential Rain Garden; Weekly Photo Points from February 19, March 18, and April 14 2015- A Comparison 


The Residential Rain Garden:

In urban environments the natural water cycle is most often an altered system. The rainwater that usually infiltrates the ground is diverted to storm drains by impervious surfaces such as parking lots, rooftops, turf lawns, and other paved areas. The storm water runoff then flows in greater volumes as it enters streams and rivers. This increased flow causes the stream's banks become scoured and eroded, causing sediment to fill in aquatic habitat and increases turbidity. 

The rain garden is an appealing remedy that slows water inflow into our streams and helps prevent pollution from entering bodies of surface water. By installing a rain garden on your property, you will be reward with beauty and the satisfaction of knowing you are helping water quality and aquatic organisms. Here's a few pictures of our demonstration rain garden as it has progressed over the years. 
2003 

2005



Rain gardens are green spaces that act as buffers between impervious surfaces and natural waterways. They allow rainwater to infiltrate the ground, decreasing the runoff and risks of flooding. They can be designed to retain, filter, and sometimes process pollutants. 


 

Residential Rain Garden Photo Points 

Comparing February 19, March 18, & April 14 2015

Also in bloom this week: Red-twigged Dogwood, Grancy Graybeard, Coral Honeysuckle, Paw Paw, Carolina Jasmine- and budding frantically: Native Wisteria, Common Milkweed, Pitcher Plant, Dutchman's Pipe... more to come!

Red-twigged Dogwood

Paw Paw

Native Wisteria about to bloom!

Grancy Graybeard, Fringe Tree

Coral Honeysuckle

Pipevine



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Create Your Own Rain Garden

Image
Building a Residential Rain Garden 🍃 So, you want to build your own rain garden. Lucky for you, it isn't a painstaking process and once you've finished it, you'll find your yard to be prettier and more efficient than it was before! Why Should I Build a Residential Rain Garden? Well, not only is a rain garden a way to beautify your yard, but also a way to employ the use of natural processes by... Temporarily holding and soaking in rain water runoff that flows  Removing 90% of Nutrients and Chemicals Removing 80% of Sediments  Draining 12-48 hours to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes  Preserving native vegetation Providing wildlife habitats for birds, butterflies, and insects Okay, I want to Build a Rain Garden. Where Should I put it? Where Should I Not put it?  When you are building a rain garden it is important to keep these points in mind about where and where not to build : They should be located in low lying sloped areas so water ...
Read more

We had a visitor to the Wildlife & Rain Garden yesterday:

Image
A Monarch butterfly!  By the looks of her tattered wings and worn scales, she probably was an  overwintering butterfly from one of the preserves down in Mexico. Meaning  she has flown nearly 1,000 miles in her short 6 – 9 month lifespan.  In the photo below (a bit blurry), you can see her depositing a single egg on the underside of the milkweed leaf. Milkweed, the Monarch’s host plant, is the only plant the adult will lay eggs on, and the only plant the caterpillar will eat. Different types of butterflies have different host plants, but the Monarch gets special attention because it is the species that migrates such great distances, and depends on healthy, native milkweed and nectar plants for survival. The more the landscape is changed for human needs, the fewer milkweed plants are available, threatening the migration. We believe this one made that long journey, bred in mexico, and found our milkweed to lay her eggs on!  Can you...
Read more

This Week: Butterfly Host Garden through the year; What's In Bloom.

Image
A host garden provides the food plants for caterpillars and nectar sources for adult butterflies. Most species of butterflies feed on specific plants when they are caterpillars.  Our Host Garden provides host plants for the Monarch (milkweed), Gulf Frittilary (passion flower), zebra swallowtail (paw paw), pipevine swallowtail (pipevine), black swallowtail (fennel, dill, parsley). Host Garden: if you plant it...
Read more