Clemson rain garden workshops help promote water quality

Published: November 17, 2010

Carolina Clear image by: Carolina Clear

LEXINGTON — Recognizing an opportunity to grow his business, landscaper Kevin Porter, owner of Porter’s Landscape, participated in a recent rain garden workshop hosted by the Lexington Countywide Stormwater Consortium.
 
Porter wanted to learn more about rain garden construction and function so he can offer the features to prospective clients.
 
Porter, who also works for the city of Cayce, said the day-long workshop taught him the importance of correct rain garden siting and construction, the varieties of plants to use and a thorough understanding of the garden’s environmental benefits.
 
“There’s a lot to the installation of a rain garden,” Porter said. “Homeowners can see what plants they can use and how rain garden’s can enhance their yards.”
 
More than 50 people attended the Lexington workshop, which was tailored for designers, engineers, landscapers, architects and others.
 
The program included instruction by Clemson University experts on nonpoint source pollutants and the affects of stormwater, overall site selection and construction, bioretention cells and selection of plants suitable for South Carolina rain gardens. After a morning classroom session, the afternoon was spent installing a rain garden that will benefit a Lexington public park and help educate the public about stormwater.
 
A rain garden is a landscaped depression that intercepts runoff and allows stormwater to slowly infiltrate the groundwater table. Correctly constructed rain gardens naturally absorb excess nitrogen and phosphorous, filter out sediment and degrade metals and bacteria — common pollutants found in stormwater.
 
Clemson University area watershed agent Bill Blackston, who led the workshop, said it’s important groups like the Lexington consortium, a regional partner of Clemson University’s Carolina Clear stormwater pollution awareness and education program, take a leading role to educate landscapers and engineers as the popularity of rain gardens grows.
 
Such features require proper placement and planting, and the correct plant varieties will mean the difference between a thriving or failing garden. Interest in workshops like these will, in turn, help increase the popularity of environmentally friendly design features, Blackston said.
 
“There is a direct connection between our actions on the land and water quality,” he said. “Correctly constructed rain gardens let nature play a role.”
 
And it’s not just homeowners helping drive the popularity of rain gardens.
 
Daniel Lam, a design engineer at Cox and Dinkins Inc. in Columbia, attended the workshop in response to what he said is a growing demand from municipalities for design features that address stormwater pollution concerns.
 
Water quality has the attention of municipalities statewide, he said, meaning more of his clients require engineers who understand how rain gardens and other watershed-friendly practices work.
 
“The workshop showed me that all the available space in a rain garden can be used,” he said. “I have a much better idea of what rain gardens should look like.”
 
Todd Smith with W.P. Law Inc., a wholesaler of agricultural and landscaping irrigation equipment and supplies based in Lexington, added that the positive environmental affects of rain gardens and similar water quality features are long term.
 
“This is a good way to utilize the water we have,” Smith said.

END

Rain garden manual
To help understand how rain gardens work, Carolina Clear has produced a 16-page rain garden manual that is available for download free of charge from the Carolina Clear website. The manual details how to build a successful rain garden and leads the reader through site selection, design, planting and maintenance. It also lists dozens of shrubs, trees, perennials and grass that can be planted in gardens across the state’s diverse regions.
 
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.