Residential environmental learning and conference center

Rain Garden Workshop

Note: Date change!

June 21, 2008

We are pleased to announce that the Audubon Center has received a grant from the Initiative Foundation to help us construct a rain garden on the property, so we are holding a special Rain Garden Workshop, where you will learn the hows and whys of rain gardens, assist in the actual installation of our rain garden, and have a lot of fun doing it - all at no charge!

Won't you come and help us get our rain garden in? In exchange for your volunteer efforts, you will not only come away with new knowledge about rain gardens and their construction, but also get a free lunch and some special event 'souvenirs'.

A rain garden is a specialized type of garden designed to catch and filter runoff from rainstorms, especially in areas that receive large amounts of water. In our case, the large roof of our Dining Hall is a source of 920 gallons of runoff when just ½” of rain falls.

By catching that water, rather than just letting it fall directly off the edge of the roof, we can spread it over a larger area, and filter it through the soil, before it enters the culvert near the driveway. The soil of our future rain garden area is composed of a mix of materials that allows the water to slowly percolate down and as such can support an mix of grasses, flowering plants and shrubs that not only beautify the area, but provide habitat for butterflies, birds and other desirable wildlife. Rain gardens are low maintenance and we want to include one as part of our overall landscape design, as well as a demonstration site for others who would like to incorporate one into their yard.

We are planning a one day workshop when we will “install” the garden and we are looking for interested volunteers who would like to participate in the process and go home with new knowledge, as well as some special event “souvenirs”.

Betsy Danielson of Dazzle Gardens is helping with the design and installation of the garden.