By John Hazlett; SWCD District Manager
Last month our district saw the culmination of two rain garden “rehab” projects where we worked with a variety of non-traditional partners to renew local stormwater assets which were not functioning properly due to ongoing lack of maintenance. Rain gardens function as small scale distributed storage capable of treating stormwater pollutants through the natural processes of infiltration and evapotranspiration but must be maintained monthly in order to function properly. As the deep-rooted native plant communities used in rain gardens get established, maintenance activities such as watering and weeding certainly decrease- but these two projects demonstrate how an ongoing lack of maintenance may require a larger overhaul effort to restore function and aesthetics.
The first project we worked on was the Normandy Barn Rain Garden at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. This approximately 200 square foot rain garden was constructed in 2009 and drains a 2,600 square foot area including the east roof of the greenhouse building immediately adjacent to it. The native plant community in the garden was well established but the garden had become overrun with Bindweed and Johnson Grass as well as Siberian Elm and Mulberry trees.
In July 2018, the District collaborated with local healthcare provider CareSource on a volunteer weeding and mulching project to remove invasives at the garden. After this initial cleanup, District staff removed additional invasives and replanted the border and bottom of the rain garden with Prairie Dropseed, Joe Pye Weed and Ironweed in May 2019. Finally, in July 2019 a landscape paver border was installed to protect the new plantings from foot traffic.
District staff have continued to water and weed the garden and it made an official renewal “debut” at the first day of the State Fair!
The other rain garden renewal project was a collaboration between the District and our partners at Citizens Energy Group (CEG) and Christopher Burke Engineering (CBBEL). In 2009, a rain garden was installed at Christian Park to accept roof runoff from an addition at local IPS School #82. Over the last 10 years the garden became overgrown with weeds and large invasives trees.
CEG and CBBEL removed the large trees and a group of volunteers weeded, mulched and replanted the rain garden in June 2019. The City of Indianapolis also contributed dumpsters and debris hauling services for the rehab. Continued maintenance for the garden will be provided by Keep Indianapolis Beautiful and IPS Staff.
