YDL-Superior has a new rain garden to learn from. Funded with a grant from Ann Arbor Farm and Garden—which also funded the Superior Learning Garden—the new rain garden is filled with pollinator-friendly, native cultivars.
Rain gardens are installed where water naturally puddles, making a safe and aesthetic place for rainwater to soak in. Correctly locating and building a rain garden can help with yard flooding issues, including water in a basement.
“The hope is that people will see the garden, learn about it and the plants, and be able to utilize the knowledge for themselves if they wish to install a rain garden in their own yards,” said Nicole Russell, YDL’s librarian who organized and installed the rain garden.
Plants in YDL’s rain garden include hibiscus, blue flag iris, cardinal flower, and purple coneflower, purchased from the Washtenaw Native Plant sale. In addition to being “bee-friendly,” the plants that have edible parts will be incorporated into YDL’s Garden to Table programs.
“I chose native cultivars for the garden,” said Russell, “because I wanted to attract the native pollinators and give them food that would be normal for their diet.”
The garden took several weeks to complete, from when the sod was removed to prepare the space to incorporating compost, rocks, and soil and installing the plants. In the future, Russell plans to use the rain garden in programs about pollinator gardens, teaching what rain gardens are used for and how to use native plants in landscaping.
“I worked really hard to get the grant approved and did a great deal of manual labor to get this installed,” Russell said. “I am super proud of it!”