As we launch into Plastic Free July, we find it particularly challenging in the presence of COVID-19, when retailers seem to be employing more single use plastics than ever. Watch this video presentation by Lauren McGrath, Willistown Conservation Trust’s Director of Watershed Protection, in a conversation about how you can decrease your plastic consumption while staying safe, including a community discussion around different ways to reduce consumption through smarter shopping and extending the shelf life of what you purchase. This online presentation was originally presented on July 1, 2020.
Rain Gardens – Digging Deeper
Rain gardens are popping up everywhere. You will find them on college campuses and office parks, in mall parking lots, along city streets and multiuse trails. They have grown in popularity over the last several years, in response to the many problems stormwater causes in the landscape.
When it rains – especially a heavy rain – we see flooding, erosion, and pollution from stormwater runoff. Just the first inch of rain during a storm collectively does the most harm.
The good news is local use of rain gardens (even on your own property!) can help to reduce flooding, erosion, and pollution over a broad region.
The Benefits of a Rain Garden
A rain garden on your property provides numerous benefits, including:
- Intercepting water and provide habitat for birds and wildlife
- Reducing stormwater runoff by 30% compared to a traditional turf lawn
- Adding natural beauty
It is not just another garden bed and does not need to be limited to perennial wildflowers and grasses. Shrubs and trees can also be used in rain gardens to achieve increased absorption, retention, and beauty.
Planning Your Rain Garden
When planning a rain garden, you need to determine what is known as the infiltration rate of your soil, or how quickly water drains through it. This will indicate whether your soils can support a rain garden. You can test it yourself in 4 easy steps:
- Dig a hole 1’ deep, being careful not to disturb the sides or compact the soil in the hole.
- Pour 444 mL (1”) of water into the hole and let it drain completely
- Fill the hole with water again and place a ruler in the center flush with the bottom to measure the depth
- Wait 15 minutes, measure the water depth again then multiply the result by four to determine the infiltration rate. Rates of .5 to 8 inches in an hour are sufficient for rain gardens.
Next, consider the location and size of the rain garden. The Philadelphia Water Department recommends sizing your rain garden to be 20-30% of your impervious surfaces (roof, driveways, patios, and walkways). The rain garden should be a minimum of ten feet away from the foundation of your house and your property line and in the lowest spot of the yard. The area should have a 1% slope away from your house for proper drainage. The rain garden will need either an outflow or a drain for larger storm events to prevent flooding. Make sure that the direction of the discharge is away from your house and your neighbor’s property.
When digging the rain garden, if your soil is rich with organic matter, two to three inches of depth will be sufficient. If it’s not and you need to amend it, dig down five to six inches and add compost. Always use PA 1-Call before you dig, to make sure you are clear of unseen obstacles underground. Taper the edges of the rain garden toward the center to prevent erosion.
Selecting Plants
And now for the exciting part: deciding what to plant. The funny thing about a rain garden is that most of the time, it is dry! While you might think wetland plants would be best, floodplain plants that can handle periods of inundation and drought are actually ideal. Basically, a rain garden functions like a small floodplain where water can stop, slow down, infiltrate into the soil and be absorbed by plant roots. The next question to ask is what plants are common to floodplains?
Depending on the size of your rain garden, planting a tree in it might not make sense. But if it does, a tree can be a fantastic focal point. In our region, you have a variety of native choices:
- canopy trees: red and silver maples, sycamore, river birch, pin oak, swamp white oak, and black gum.
- understory: black willow and sweet-bay magnolia
Bald cypress is a great southern species, too. As our area continues to warm up, using more southerly species may be a way to increase the long term vitality of your landscape.
The shrub layer of floodplains offer a rich palette of plants from which to choose. Highbush blueberry, red chokeberry, and black chokeberry look lovely and provide edible fruit. Buttonbush, arrowwood, winterberry holly, ninebark, meadowsweet, sweet pepperbush, possumhaw, red twig and silky dogwoods offer a variety of color, texture and seasonal interest to round out a rain garden. Once established, shrubs require minimal maintenance.
Thinking of your rain garden as a habitat with niches to fill can help guide design and plant selection. Plan on a variety of heights and moisture tolerances between the center and edges. Plant low growing cool season bunch grasses for early season cover, wildflowers for summer color, and shrubs for height and fruit.
Whether you plant trees, shrubs, wildflowers, or grasses, rain gardens can provide beauty, functionality, and habitat for your landscape. Dig deeper and decide for yourself what type of rain garden fits your landscape and start helping your community by reducing stormwater runoff at home. Many small actions can really make a difference.
This article was originally published in County Lines Magazine – May 2020 Issue.
Video – 7 Ways to Give Traveling Birds a Boost – Flappy Hour Recap
On May 14th the Trusts’ Bird Conservation field team held a virtual flappy social hour. They shared short talks about ways you can support migratory birds while remaining socially distant. The talk ended with a casual Q&A session. 52 people signed in! If you missed it and want to learn how to promote bird conservation in your backyard and beyond, click here to watch the recorded session!
- Did you know that the average adult needs 15 coffee trees per year? By choosing where your coffee comes from and how it is grown, you can help protect our birds that overwinter in the tropics.
- Did you know that cats have been determined to be the number one cause of bird declines and that we could save billions of birds by keeping cats inside?
- Did you know that our agriculture is becoming toxic to birds? Many chemicals that are used to coat seeds remain with the plant for its entire life and persist in the environment, despite what the chemical companies say.
- Did you know that 9 in 10 seabirds have been found with plastic in their stomachs? By reducing plastic use, we can help our oceans and the creatures that inhabit them.
- Did you know that there are over 48 million acres of lawn in the U.S? By changing how we view these spaces our lawns can actually contribute to bird conservation in a big way.
Explore these topics and more in our Flappy Hour recording.
Seeking the Healing Power of Nature on Earth Day
In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.
-John Muir
In 1970, millions of Americans pledged to start a movement to be better stewards of our planet Earth. As we prepare to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the now global movement called Earth Day, we are faced with an unprecedented reality.
While typical day to day life for many humans is on hold, nature doesn’t stop. The birds continue their annual migration and breeding season, our streams are flowing with spring rains, and the seeds in our greenhouse and the grasses and wildflowers in our native meadows are bursting with new life. Among the earth’s spring renewal, humans are discovering the nurturing, restorative power of nature. A simple walk through the woods or fields provides us with respite and peace.
This miracle felt especially true over Easter weekend as I explored Ashbridge Preserve with our nine-year-old twin grandchildren, Grace and James. After being quarantined indoors for three weeks, their joy in being free in the outdoors, skipping the Ridley Creek stepping stones and discovering the emerging spring plants and creatures was a palpable gift to hold and treasure.
While the earth has the power to heal humans, we in turn, have the power to help heal the earth. Willistown Conservation Trust’s holistic approach to land protection, with a focus on the connections among land, farm, birds, and water, protects native habitat and provides open space for our earth to heal itself.
Even as new studies show that grassland bird populations have declined by over 50% since 1970, hearing the song of the returning Eastern Meadowlark fluting across our preserved grassland habitat at Kirkwood Preserve gives me great hope. The newly sown peas at Rushton Farm are showing their first green tendrils of life and the skunk cabbage at Rushton Woods Preserve has completely unfurled. The first trillium have emerged at Ashbridge Preserve, dotting the woods with cheerful color.
As you think about Earth Day this year, I encourage you to seek out nature to find inspiration, healing and hope. Just as the earth renews each spring, we will resume our our regular lives once again, perhaps transformed with a deeper connection to our planet earth.
With warmest regards,
Bonnie
Create Your Own Meadow – Step 2: Plant
Mid April – Early May: Once your wildflower plugs arrive, it may be tempting to lay out plants in neatly arranged rows, but clustering plants together while still paying attention to plant spacing will echo the more organic patterns found in nature.
In addition, wildflowers planted in clusters with several plants of the same species within a few feet of each other will also help to attract more pollinators. Use a handheld auger (2” +/- in diameter) or shovel to open holes for your wildflower plugs. Then you can easily insert each plug in the hole and tamp the soil around it.
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