Rain Garden

The rain garden was installed  about 2006 and its installation was linked to Low Impact Development of Walmart.  The rain garden was built as a bioretention bed as a research site by the EPA and NCSU to demonstrate proper excavation techniques.  Dr. Rob Brown was able to show that when excavating using buckets with teethed buckets the infiltration of water is much better.  A smooth bucket excavator will smooth out the soil while it is moving the soil.  (This is according to an email from Bill Lord)

In the rain garden we use hardwood bark for our mulch and do not fertilize.  Our rain garden bed has between 24 and 36 inches of custom media to help with filtration. When it rains, the rain garden collects runoff, mainly from the parking lot of the Gardens next door.  The water will stay in the depression of the rain garden for up to 24 hours and filter out some of the pollutants.  Rain gardens also help reduce runoff and thereby flooding.

Want to know more about rain gardens? Rain Gardens 101