Save Maumee Celebrates Earth Day in Defiance:
Stormwater Walking Tour & Rain Garden Workshop!
Save Maumee, a group based out of Ft. Wayne, IN stopped in Defiance during their 9 day canoe trip from Ft. Wayne to Lake Erie! One of the goals of the trip is to raise awareness of water quality issues and recreational opportunities of the Maumee River.
To welcome them and celebrate Earth Day we invited the public to join us for a walking tour and rain garden workshop. The walking tour showcased some of the innovative ways that Defiance is reducing stormwater runoff from polluting the rivers. The tour was led by Jen English, City of Defiance MS4 Coordinator. During the rain garden workshop, Martha Bishop- Ferguson, owner of Riverview Nursery, detailed ways that homeowners can install a rain garden in their yard.
A rain garden is a landscaped area planted with native plants and flowers that soak up rainwater. The garden fills with a few inches of rain water that come off of the roof of a house or overflow of a rain barrel during a storm. After the storm, the water slowly soaks into the ground instead of running off the land into a storm sewer or waterway. Compared with a grassed lawn area, a rain garden may allow 30% more water to be absorbed. Native plants are suggested for use in the rain garden because of their deep roots, water uptake and their ability to tolerate conditions ranging from wet to dry and hot to freezing.
Contact Us for more information about installing a rain barrel and/or rain garden on your property.