Introduction to Residential Raingardens Workshop

 Bee balm and rain garden. Photo: CRWC

Are you thinking about adding a rain garden to your landscape and wondering how to begin? A rain garden is a shallow infiltration basin planted with water tolerant species and designed to capture stormwater runoff. Rain gardens are designed to pond water for just a few hours at a time, allowing it to be taken up and transpired by plants or to be infiltrated into the ground.  Infiltration removes pollutants and reduces volume of stormwater runoff, improving the water quality of local streams. Homeowners and landscapers in Strafford County are beginning to hear about the benefits of this new kind of garden, but we don’t yet have a lot of examples of residential rain gardens to visit.

 On Saturday, April 20, 2013 at 10:00 am, Studley’s Garden Center is hosting a presentation about residential rain gardens. Catherine Neal, Ph.D., will introduce us to the benefits of rain gardens and how to create them. Dr. Neal is the UNH Cooperative Extension Specialist, Landscape and Nursery Horticulture. She will discuss site analysis, design, plant selection, and maintenance of rain gardens.   The one-hour session will take place at Studley’s, 82 Wakefield Street in Rochester. The event is free and open to the public.

  The Cocheco River Watershed Coalition, Strafford County UNH Cooperative Extension, and Strafford Regional Planning Commission are collaborating to present this program. Please call Studley’s, 332-4565, CRWC, 516-8113, or Cooperative Extension, 749-4445, if you have questions.         

The University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension is an equal opportunity educator and employer. University of New Hampshire, U.S. Department of Agriculture and N.H. counties cooperating.

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