new hampshire; gardening with rainwater

8/3/2019 New Hampshire; Gardening with Rainwater

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FACING PAGE: Native plants-such as wild bergamot, blue flag, maidenhair fern, blue cardinalflower, liatris, rudebekia and wild columbineflourish in rain gardens.THIS PAGE:The New England Wild Flower Society'srain garden in Framingham, Massachusetts,features plants native to North America, suchas false goat's beard, cardinal flowers anddwarf-crested irises.

Cedarholm started his garden bydigging an eight-inch-deep "bowL" Hecreated a berm a round it to delineat ethe area and keep water inside the garden when it rained.

Cedarholm is among a growingnumber of ecologically minded ewHampshire residents interested Inusing the water running off their roofsin their yards. Water conservation isthe primary goal behind rain garden-

ing, where water runoff from roofs,yards and paved surfaces is absorbed inthe garden. The water is filtered slowlythrough the garden' s plantings andinto the soil, which cleans the water ofpollutants before it reaches localstreams, rivers and lakes via stormdrains.

According to the Rain Gardenetwork-an online forum about rain

gardening-these gardens can absorb

between 30 percent and 40 percentmore runoff than a conventional lawn,slowing the rush of a rainstorm andlessening its potentially polluting effecton a community.

In addition to their practical applications, rain gardens add beauty andvalue to commercia l and residentialproperties. "A rain garden makes yoursite more susta inable ," says TerrenceParker, p rinc ip al o f Terra F irma

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Landscape Architecture in Portsmouthand a des igner of rain gardens for bothcommercial and residential use. "It'smore cost-effective in the long term,and the gardens are a visual amenity."

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WORKING WITH NATURE-ANDTOUGHER BUILDING STANDARDSFacing t ougher s ta te and federalr egulat ions on potential pollution(commercial construction projects inew Hampshire must treat stormwater

runoff from pavements and parkinglots), developers are seeing rain gardensas an appealing water-managementsolution.

When Phillips Exeter Academybuilt three faculty houses las t year inExeter, the homes were designed witha rain garden in mind, says engineerJeff Clifford of Altus Engineering inPortsmouth.

The runoff from the single-familyhomes is collected in a boomerang-


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shaped rain garden adjacent to theschool's athletic fields. The gardencontaining mostly wild, ornamentalgrasses-is des igned to col le ct and"pond" water up to six inches beforeit's filtered th rough t he landscapeand an underground drain carries th ewater away."It's de igned for a one-inch water

depth," Clifford says. The garden isbetween two feet and three feet deep,and there's eighteen inches of soi l -layers of loam, compost and sand-thatfilter the water. " It 's a perfect locationbecause the soil is good and the layoutof the project naturally leads the wateraway," he says.However, rain gardens aren't limited

to largerbu ilding projects. "Homeownerscan build rain ga rdens on a small scalewith ornamental appeal," Parker says.

For example, Steve Lewis,.an Atkinsonland-use consultant and bui lder , hasbuilt two residential communities that

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incorporate rain-gardening techniques.The Village at Braemoor Woods inSalem features maintenance-free raingardens, which add to the development's appeal. "I use indigenous plants,like winterberry, in the landscaping,"Lewis says. "The gardens are meant tobe a bio-cleaning filter, bu t they're alsovery attractive."BUILDING A RAIN GARDENFortunately for beginning gardeners, arain garden doesn't have to be sophisticated, bu t there are a few points to keepin mind.

First, locate your rain garden nearthe water runoff source. Cedarholmwho built the Durham DPW raingarden on Earth Day 2007 with hisfamily-located the garden near thedownspout of the building's gutter.Themost important time to treat stormwater runoff is during the first ten minutesof a rainstorm. "That's when you get silt

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from fue roof and junk off the road inthe water," Cedarholm says.

Second, be sure to consider the soiltype. The area around the DPW's raingarden has sandy soil that's permeableand effective at filtering the rainwater.Cedarholm also put in layers of loamand compost to create additional filtering properties.

Third, use plantings native to NewHampshire c limate and soils. Parkersuggests native grasses, ferns, rushes,echinacea and black-eyed Susans as wellas common plants seen in meadows,such as milkweed, aster, columbine,cornAower and irises. "You're designingyourgarden for a dry situation, so plantshave to be drought- to leran t, " Parkersays. "Plants aren't sustainable if they'redesigned for constantly wet situations.They must be tolerant at bothextremes." Also, the local plants and

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Attached to a downspout, a rain barrelcollects and filters water, storing itforlater use in the garden and yard.

THE MANY MISSIONSOF RAIN GARDENSCedarholm' s rain garden has provedsuccessful on several levels. "We use[the garden] as a public outreach to discuss the town's stormwater and watersystems," Cedarholm says. "I wanteveryone to know that this is doableand good for the environment." He'salready planning a rain garden for downtown Durham as well as another behindthe public works building.

For Parker, rain gardening is a simple way to help the environment andexpress individual creativity. "Everyonecan do it at their own level," he says.For gardeners and conservationistsalike, that means a beau ti fu l gardenthat puts water in its place. =

Aowers can become butterAy and birdhabitats.

The Durham Carden Club gaveCedarholm the DPW garden's plantings for free. Instead of bark mulch,which absorbs water , Cedarholm andhis children placed dinosauregg-shapedrocks found in a local quarry around theplants. "The plants we selected can tolerate Aooding as well as droughts,"Cedarholm says. "The day lilies andirises Aourished."

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new hampshire; gardening with rainwater

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