After a year hiatus on this project, I am resuming planning and hope to install this fall. I am hosting a pair of community collaborative design workshops to get input and teach the neighborhood about rain gardens & stormwater management.

Last fall, non-profit group planted river birch in the area, with the plan to design the garden around the tree. The City also cleaned out the catch basin, the results were underwhelming...

@Susan Bryan we are working in partnership with the City Parks & Rec and the neighborhood association. The plan is to run a drain pipe from the undersized/obsolete leaching basin to the area in the grass where we will install the rain garden. Our first [of two] design workshop with neighbors is this week, so we will have some preliminary sketches to share in the next week [other than my own].

Sounds like a great design process! Sounds fun!

Infiltration test results: 5-gallons infiltrated in 21 minutes. Mainly sandy-silt, with a good A horizon consisting of sandy-loam.

*Test conducted approximately 24 hours after 2 inch rain event

What a fast infiltration rate! You have lots of flexibility with rain garden water-ponding depth, and plant palette choices. Have fun with it!

Completed Nov 6, 2021

>20 species of native wildflowers, sedges & grasses (>700 individual plants), as well as incorporating two existing young trees (sycamore & river birch).

Installed by 30 community member volunteers of all ages. And no more parking lot flooding!

Please post a pic of this year's blooms. I'm sure it will be amazing. I haven't been to the Garfield Park Conservatory in years.