Making Gardeners Green With Envy

For residents of University City who have planted rain gardens, it’s pretty easy being green. These ecological-minded gardeners showed off their green thumbs and educated their community Sunday from 12pm-3pm with a Rain Garden Block Party sponsored by the River des Peres Watershed Coalition and U City in Bloom.

An estimated two hundred people attended the Rain Garden Block Party, including Mayor Shelley Welsch. The block party included a walking tour of seven rain gardens on six properties along with several information booths on a wide variety of garden-related subjects. Free food was served up along with plenty of advice from local landscapers, contractors, botanists and plant experts from the Missouri Botanical Garden. St. Louis Composting was on hand with tips to improve any garden. Attendees also learned about feeding backyard birds from The Missouri Department of Conservation.

The rainy weather meant that the curious got to see the process of rain gardens in action. One of the immediate benefits to those attending was the opportunity to mingle with their neighbors, exchange tips and learn that the grass is always greener with a rain garden.

Eric Karch, President of the River des Peres Watershed Coalition, sees several big benefits from rain gardens. “People get a nice garden at home with a diversity of plants that you wouldn’t normally have in a regular garden. They remove excess rainfall from our system, which helps prevent flooding and helps cuts down on sewage.” He added that he hopes this year’s inaugural block party becomes an annual event. “It’s been great. It’s helping build our community and it educates people about rain gardens so that they can see what applies to their yard.”

Rain Garden expert and Healthy Planet writer Linda Wiggen Kraft sees rain gardens as a significant project for the St. Louis horticultural community. When asked what it takes to make a great rain garden, she commented, “If you have enough plants you can get an amazing garden in one year. However, it takes about three years for a rain garden to really come to fruition.”

The rain gardens on display were the result of a collaborative project between the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, Washington University, the Missouri Botanical Garden and other design and construction partners.