Rain Garden Update

In the July issue of E-Newz, Prairie Rivers Network introduced the concept of rain gardens as a means of minimizing storm runoff from your home or business and reducing the need to water your plants.  After receiving one of the Lieutenant Governor’s Rain Garden Initiative Mini-grants, we approached Habitat for Humanity of Champaign and Piatt Counties to see whether they would be interested in working together to plant a rain garden at one of the homes they currently have under construction.  They responded enthusiastically, and we have now partnered with volunteers from Habitat and the Illinois Natural History Survey to help design and install the garden.  The progress of this exciting project can be viewed by visiting our rain gardens blog site, www.xanga.com/PrairieRivers.  Pictures and resources used during each phase, as well as the successes and obstacles encountered during the project will be posted.  This blog will continue until the completion of our rain garden, which is scheduled for April 2006.  Feel free to post comments on the site.

It is our hope that our experience will encourage homeowners throughout Illinois to create their own rain gardens.  To that end, we are developing an instructional manual on designing rain gardens in Illinois and will hold a rain garden design workshop in the spring for interested homeowners.  For more information, check out our blog or email jli@prairierivers.org. Click on the below image to directly link to our blog.