On Saturday morning, November 17th Friends of Bolin creek co-sponsored a raingarden workshop with the Town of Chapel Hill Stormwater Management, NCSU Cooperative Extension, and the Carolina Center for Educational Excellence. View the pictures below and see the Time lapse film of rain garden installation.
Wendy Smith of the Town of Chapel Hill Stormwater Management coordinated the construction and planting of the demonstration rain garden at Chapel Hill High School. Mitch Woodward and Andrew Anderson of NCSU Cooperative Extension provided the stormwater instruction for the workshop.
The workshop was an activity of the Chapel Hill High School Water Sustainability Initiative. Teachers Betsy Kempter, Carolina Center for Educational Excellence, and Rob Greenberg, Chapel Hill High School, are spearheading this initiative to improve water quality and the management of groundwater at Chapel Hill High School.
Teacher Rob Greenberg makes a point.
NC State instructors check sight distances.Rain gardens are constructed, saucer-shaped depressions with well-drained soil and ponding space to temporarily hold and infiltrate stormwater. Using native plants that are both flood and drought tolerant, they require no fertilizer, benefit water quality and wildlife, and provide a beautiful way to manage stormwater.
Workshop participants planted the rain garden in the last hour of the workshop with native species that don’t mind having their feet wet for short periods.
Final adjustments to completed rain garden. The workshop was an activity of the Chapel Hill High School Water Sustainability Initiative.