Rain gardens: The eco-friendly landscaping option is catching on
Bob Shaw
St. Paul Pioneer Press Article Last Updated: 08/20/2008 10:07:21 AM CDT
If Brown's Creek had arms, it would hug Elizabeth Brod.
The creek is healthier now that Brod has installed two water-cleansing rain gardens in her back yard.
Better yet, her homeowners association helped persuade 12 neighbors to do the same.
"It was very worry-free," she said as she tended the new plantings in the fresh mulch of her Stillwater yard earlier this month.
She is one reason Minnesota leads the nation in water-cleaning landscaping techniques, including lakeshore plantings. Another reason is the half-price sale on water-cleaning projects, subsidized by counties and watershed groups.
If they have their way, the Land of 10,000 Lakes soon will have 10,000 rain gardens to keep them clean.
The idea of landscaping your way to clean water is relatively new. Experts say rain gardens were introduced to the Twin Cities about 10 years ago and were slow to catch on — until recently.
Officials of the Washington Conservation District know of about 100 rain gardens and lakeshore replantings in the county this year. Three years ago, they said, there were only a handful.
And there are dozens more they don't know about. Anyone can build a rain garden — it isn't much more complicated than digging a shallow bowl in a wet corner of a yard.
This summer, to help promote eco-landscaping, the district has partnered with the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
Last week, Humphrey researcher Kay Qualley continued a series of focus groups, trying to find out why some homeowners embrace rain gardens and others don't. Her early findings? People who live near water are more likely to care about water quality and to build rain gardens or lakeshore gardens.
She said residents of Stillwater and Woodbury have more interest in eco-plantings than, say, those of Cottage Grove, which doesn't have as many lakes.
That's also why Minnesota is No. 1 in the country for clean-water landscaping, she said. Minnesotans are far more likely every day to see lakes and the highly visible effects of runoff in the algae that often chokes them.
How It Works / "The movement didn't start here, but we have far surpassed everyone else," said Rusty Schmidt, a natural resource specialist with the Washington Conservation District.
He said rain normally rinses lawns and driveways clean — and carries pollutants to waterways.
The worst pollutant is fertilizer. A pound of phosphorous can create 300 pounds of algae in a lake, he said. The overgrown algae dies and rots, then chokes light and oxygen from the water, killing fish and other aquatic life.
The solution? Anything that slows the rain runoff. Water in a hurry pollutes, but slowed-down water seeps
Patrick and Elizabeth Brod of Stillwater installed two rain gardens in the back yard of their Stillwater home. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi) into the soil — nature's perfect filtration system. Most rain gardens are shallow bowls about 9 inches deep, placed in a part of a yard where runoff collects. Water usually drains into the soil within 24 hours of a rainstorm.
The choice of plants isn't terribly important. Most homeowners choose among dozens of low-maintenance native species, many found on the Web site bluethumb.org.
"Native plants help Minnesota look like Minnesota, and not St. Louis or Iowa City," Qualley said.
Plants, said Schmidt, clean water because roots are covered with specialized bacteria and a water-cleaning fungus called microrhyzae that pulls pollution from the water.
Lakeshore plantings aren't as common but are just as important to the environment.
The conservation district gives grants for planting native plants along lakeshores, preventing runoff from carrying pollutants into lakes.
Lakeshore grants are fewer, because the projects are larger and more expensive. While a rain garden might cost $500, a lakeshore project might easily cost $5,000, said Angie Hong, coordinator for the East Metro Water Resource program.
"Sometimes it is a harder sell," she said. Homeowners pay huge premiums for lake lots and often want a lawn running down to the beach for a clear view and easy access.
Hong said the plantings — commonly bulrushes, butterfly milkweed and sedges — are pretty and popular. Planting projects always include pathways to the shore, she said.
Happy Customers / Several customers give rave reviews to the conservation district's program.
Lori Johnson, of Oakdale, got help from Schmidt with installing a rain garden.
"He integrated it into our existing landscaping, which is a nice idea," she said. "The neighbors said, 'Wow! Cool! I could do that.' "
She took advantage of the district's offer to pay half the cost.
"If you can put in a beautiful garden and it helps reduce runoff and they pay half of it," she gushed, "who wouldn't do it?"
In a two-year-old neighborhood in Stillwater, Brod serves on the homeowners' association board, where she helped promote rain gardens.
Her family had water problems of its own — lawn runoff from a neighbor on one side and sump-pump discharge from the neighbor on the other side. The water flowed across their lawn into Brown's Creek.
Today, the water is captured in two rain gardens on the corners of the back yard. Brod proudly pointed out the plants — dogwood, coral bells, sedges, sedum, wild columbine, purple coneflowers and black-eyed Susans.
"We don't have to water them. The thought is, this is the way they were made, naturally," she said over the sound of her children playing on a nearby swing set.
Across the street, Mark Carle said the homes in the neighborhood are new and need additional landscaping. So the expense of his new rain garden was money well-spent, he said.
"Today everyone is trying to be greener," he said.
Bob Shaw can be reached at 651-228-5433.
How To Create A Rain Garden
Building a rain garden is easy — and paying for it is getting easier.
Find a soggy part of your lawn, or any area where water collects. Dig a shallow bowl about 9 inches deep. The bottom should be level and not slope with the terrain. Put in a 3-inch layer of compost. Plant native Minnesota plants; for ideas, visit bluethumb.org. Then cover with 3 inches of mulch. Grants are available through counties and watershed districts. To apply or get information, click on "Grants" on bluethumb.org. or call the Washington Conservation District office at 651-275-1136.
Posted: August 26, 2008