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News from the Rain Gardens
RAINGARDENS.ORG IS GROWING! WMEAC's raingardens.org website is working on an upgrade, thanks to support from Spurt Industries, the JF New company, and American Rivers. You can look forward to expanded content and new features in 2009 and early 2010.
Want to make your own rain garden? There is lots of information on raingardens.org. See our public rain gardens here.
We have a new shop! Click here to get rain garden posters and signs.
FREE, JUST FOR YOU. Our five-minute rain garden video is available for download to play in Windows Media Player. Click here to download. Our Rain Garden Fact Sheet for professionals, created in partnership with American Rivers, can help you have a successful project. This can be customized for your watershed! Click here. What's blooming in the rain gardens right now? Click here and see! Great Lakes Rain Garden Brochure for homeowners! Click here for the brochure in English. Haga clic aqui para el folleto de Jardines de Lluvia en Esapanol. See our public demonstration rain gardens! More information here... We need you! Want to help plant or dig a rain garden? More information here... The "Create a Garden" section is available as a full-color, downloadable pdf document. Click here to download. RiverMaid Designs created two rain garden designs just for you! For people with sun and clay soils; download the Tall Great Lakes Prairie Rain Garden or the Short Great Lakes Prairie Rain Garden, in pdf format (can't read pdf files? click here).
Where can I see a rain garden? In West Michigan, we know where the rain gardens are, but now rain gardens are springing up everywhere. A rain garden might be in your neighborhood, or just down the block; but how would you know? People do not recognize rain gardens, we have discovered, unless there is a sign in it. For this reason, we have designed a lovely rain garden sign that anyone can use. Raingardens.org can have the sign customized for you, and the production file will be sent to the sign producer of your choice. There is a small fee for use of our rain garden sign, and you pay the graphic arts fee. We approved the final design. To see our sign, which was funded by American Rivers, check out our internet shop (link above). |
What is a rain garden? A rain garden is an attractive landscaping feature planted with perennial native plants. It is a bowl-shaped or saucer-shaped garden with deep, loose soil, designed to absorb stormwater run-off from impervious surfaces such as roofs and parking lots. Rain gardens can be small, formal, home-owner style gardens, large complex bioretention gardens, or anywhere in between. Why do we need rain gardens? Rain is natural; stormwater isn't. Government studies have shown that up to 70% of the pollution in our streams, rivers and lakes is carried there by stormwater. Although most people never think about stormwater, about half of the pollution that stormwater carries comes from things we do in our yards and gardens! Planting a rain garden may seem like a small thing, but if you calculate the amount of rain that runs off your roof, you would be very surprised.That rain is supposed to soak into the ground, but instead heads down the street to the storm drain, carrying pollution with it. Keeping rain where it falls, by putting it into a beautiful rain garden, is a natural solution. You not only get a lovely garden out of it, you have the added benefit of helping protect our rivers, streams and lakes from stormwater pollution. You can be part of a beautiful solution! Ready to make a rain garden? You came to the right place. We have garden plans, instructions, resources, and information. Please explore the site! Join WMEAC! keep raingardens.org going This is a great time to become a member of WMEAC, our parent organization. A secret donor will match your membership dollars two for one. Any level you join, your money will triple! To join WMEAC, click here. Friends of the Rain Gardens We need your help! There are many ways to get involved with Rain Gardens of West Michigan. You can find out more here. Stormwater education Need information or resources for stormwater education? See our "raising awareness" section, and use our FREE items (see left column, this page). Communities are seeking ways to educate their citizens about storm water pollution. Rain garden projects are one of many excellent public education tools that can be used for this purpose. A rain garden project could help meet these needs in your neighborhood. Explore our website and learn how we are educating communities in West Michigan.
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