Promise Of Rain Garden

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

THE MAHONING COUNTY SOIL AND WATER conservation District has installed a rain garden as a flood control measure and as a project to educate the public about its value.

The garden is a sunken, landscaped area planted with perennial plants, such as black-eyed Susans, that grow well in wet conditions.

“Rain gardens are not only aesthetically pleasing and increase property value, but they also serve a function, and that’s to filter out pollutants from storm water,” before it enters streams and lakes, said Kathi Vrable-Bryan, SWCD administrator.

“It conserves natural resources and prevents soil erosion, and anything of that nature, we would want to be involved with,” said Jim Petuch, director of the Mahoning County Recycling Division, which provided a grant for the project.

Rain gardens can be installed in residential backyards, Petuch said. “It’ll prevent a lot of the flooding and the ponding that people have,” he added.

Such gardens capture and filter storm water from rooftops, driveways and parking lots, enhance the appearance of yards, provide a wildlife habitat and recharge the ground water supply, according to SWCD.

The 750-square-foot garden installed at the SWCD office, 850 Industrial Road, occupies a former used car lot.

The project is funded by a $3,771 Ohio Environmental Protection Agency grant and the $1,181 grant from the county recycling division.

The EPA grant paid for birdhouses, signs, literature and a rain barrel to collect rainwater for irrigation of the garden during dry spells.

The recycling division grant will be used to build an outdoor education pavilion from recycled materials adjacent to the rain garden.

Less & Less Contracting, the Mahoning Valley Landscape and Nursery Association and the Ohio State University Extension Master Gardeners donated labor for the project.

About 20 volunteers donated some $7,000 worth of labor, equipment and supplies for the rain garden, Vrable-Bryan said.

“We’re in a very green-conscious society, and this garden is a way to use runoff water that would normally go directly to the storm sewer,” said Tony DiGiacomo of Boardman, president of Second Nature Landscape Services Inc. DiGiacomo volunteered his and his company’s time for this project.

DiGiacomo also is a board member of the Mahoning Valley Landscape and Nursery Association — a trade organization of landscapers.

The district’s garden is in a flood-prone area, where the county engineer’s office has been inundated after heavy rains in recent years, Vrable-Bryan said. Runoff from the area goes to the Ax Factory Run, which is a tributary of Mill Creek.

Vrable-Bryan said her goal is to use the rain garden as a land lab to be visited by students on school field trips and as a demonstration project for homeowners and businesses contemplating such installations on their property.

The SWCD garden will be “a model for others to emulate,” Petuch said.

A rain garden doesn’t have to be extremely expensive, Vrable-Bryan said, noting that a typical backyard rain garden would cover 100 square feet and cost $15 to $22 per square foot to install.

She added anothergoal is to obtain a grant to install a model food-producing urban garden on the other side of the SWCD office building under guidance from the OSU Extension Office and other organizations.

SWCD’s mission is to educate the public about control of storm water runoff and prevention of soil erosion and water pollution. The district is funded by a combination of federal, state and county money.

milliken@vindy.com