MASTER GARDENER PROGRAM — MGs in the News
Published in: The Reflector • March 23, 2016, 12:00 AM
By Natalie Johnson — For The Reflector
Gardens help reduce pollution, channel heavy rain.
You don’t need a green thumb to have a thriving rain garden in Southwest Washington.
“This is kind of a garden that will generally maintain itself,” said Erika Johnson, Master Gardener program coordinator for Washington State University Extension Clark County. “It’s actually pretty low maintenance and it’s not going to require a lot of pruning or special attention.”
The Washington State University Extension Clark County Master Gardeners and Clark County Environmental Services have scheduled a “Build a Rain Garden!” workshop for 10:30 a.m. April 2 at the Washougal Community Library at 1661 C St., in Washougal.
The class teaches participants how to build rain gardens that beautify landscapes while improving environmental health.
The event is free and no registration is necessary. Rain garden expert Jamie Stamberger will lead the class, teaching participants about selecting a location for a rain garden, choosing a size and design, constructing a rain garden, selecting plants and maintenance, according to the WSU Extension.
Rain gardens are bowl-shaped flower beds that capture and soak in rain runoff from roofs and driveways.
“The purpose of a rain garden is to handle water that comes in great volume,” Johnson said. “It’s a garden that will handle the extremes.”
The gardens help keep polluted runoff from rushing into waterways where it can cause erosion, flooding and pollution, according to the WSU Extension. Areas with a high volume of paved surfaces are particularly susceptible to polluted runoff.
“When you have these little gardens that are catching the water … they’re actually purifying the water,” Johnson said.
The gardens use plants native to Southwest Washington.
“That’s one of the things I am hoping to learn about at this workshop,” she said.
Possible native plants include the red-twig dogwood, lavender, salmonberry, black-eyed Susan, snowberry, Oregon grape and western sword-fern, among others.
Stamberger will also take participants on a tour of an on-site garden to demonstrate the gardens and their effectiveness.
“They’re appropriate for both homes and businesses but there are certain things your property needs to have in place in order to make this appropriate,” Johnson said.
For example, areas with clay or silt-based soils are not best for rain gardens. Areas with septic tanks or drain fields should also be avoided.
The Clark County WSU Extension has not hosted a program on rain gardens for several years, Johnson said. The venue for the workshop has room for as many as 60 participants.
For more information, call (360) 397-6060, ext. 5738.
AT A GLANCE
What: “Build a Rain Garden!” workshop
When: 10:30 a.m., April 2
Where: Washougal Community Library at 1661 C. Street in Washougal
Read article in The Reflector — WSU Rain Garden workshop scheduled for April 2
© 2016 The Reflector. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.