Rain garden workshop for professionals coming to Lexington

Published: October 26, 2010

Lexington Countywide Stormwater Consortium image by: Lexington Countywide Stormwater Consortium

LEXINGTON — Learn how to build a rain garden at a workshop for landscape professionals by the Lexington Countywide Stormwater Consortium.

The class is from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Municipal Building, 11 Maiden Lane in Lexington. Registration is required by Nov. 5.

The class costs $50 per person, which includes lunch and materials.

The class is tailored for designers, landscapers, landscape architects and others. The program includes instruction on nonpoint source pollutants and the benefits of stormwater, overall site selection and construction, bioretention cells and selection of plants for South Carolina gardens.

The afternoon session from 1 to 4 p.m. features a full rain garden installation at Corley Street Park. Certain continuing education credits also are available.

To download a registration form, visit: http://www.clemson.edu/public/carolinaclear/consortiums/lcsc_home/index.html.

For more information, contact Clemson University area watershed agent Bill Blackston at 803-359-8515, ext. 116, or wblckst@clemson.edu.

The popularity of rain gardens has grown enormously as more people become aware of the affects of their homes and yards on nearby water bodies.

Correctly constructed rain gardens allow stormwater runoff to slowly infiltrate the groundwater table. Rain gardens absorb excess nitrogen and phosphorous in stormwater and trap sediment while biological processes filter out other pollutants.

The Lexington Countywide Stormwater Consortium is a regional partner of Clemson University’s Carolina Clear stormwater education and awareness program.

To help understand how rain gardens work, Carolina Clear has produced a free 16-page rain garden manual that is available for download at the Carolina Clear website: http://www.clemson.edu/public/carolinaclear/cc_toolbox/index.html.

The manual details how to build a successful rain garden and leads the reader through site selection, design, planting and maintenance. The manual lists dozens of shrubs, trees, perennials and grasses that can be planted in gardens across the state’s diverse regions.

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Carolina Clear
Carolina Clear is a stormwater education and awareness program of the Clemson University Restoration Institute and the Center for Watershed Excellence. The program’s goal is to minimize polluted stormwater runoff by educating the general public, youth, builders, developers, homeowners and government officials about how they can keep water in the state’s streams, rivers and basins as clean as possible.

Lexington Countywide Stormwater Consortium
The consortium strives to enhance water quality throughout the area through education, involvement and outreach, and by fostering partnerships with local governments, citizens, businesses and organizations to support healthy, fishable and swimmable waterways. Communities involved in the Consortium are Lexington County, Cayce, Irmo, Pine Ridge, South Congaree, Springdale, Lexington and West Columbia.