One urban forester shared an unexpected eco-friendly choice made in a local parking lot with their TikTok community, saying, "These should be everywhere!"
Andrew the Arborist (@andrew_the_arborist) is a creator and tree specialist sharing gardening and educational content with nearly 200,000 followers. In one clip, he gave a detailed tour and explanation of a rain garden in a parking lot.
@andrew_the_arborist Here's a really well-built parking rain garden, full of nice native plants. These should be everywhere! What are your thoughts? #trees #raingarden #waterbasin #retention #water #plants #native #fyp #nativeplants ♬ original sound - Andrew The Arborist
He went through many of the plants featured in the garden and explained, "They used water-loving, drought-tolerant native trees," which means that these plants will do well in the hot parking lot and can handle being waterlogged during storms.
Andrew went on to show native sedges and grasses with similar hardiness, as all native plants are well-adapted to their local climates.
He was also impressed with the use of native wildflowers, which will help attract pollinators to help the area thrive.
Finally, Andrew detailed some of the particularly noteworthy and well-thought-out landscaping choices. Firstly, the garden is sloped and below the rest of the parking lot, meaning water can flow easily into it. It features well-designed rocky paths for the water to follow, which will keep sediment and debris out of the garden.
Rain gardens are an excellent way to help mitigate flooding in areas that are prone to heavy rains.
"A rain garden is a depressed area in the landscape that collects rain water from a roof, driveway or street and allows it to soak into the ground," the Environmental Protection Agency wrote.
Typically, these gardens include native plants, which can have long roots that draw water from deep in soil.
Rain gardens are incredibly versatile and can be used in a variety of places. They help reduce flooding in cities if planted in tree and gutter wells, and homeowners have chosen them to make lawns more usable.
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Sign me up 👍 "By mimicking the natural absorption and pollutant removal abilities of a forest or meadow, rain gardens can absorb runoff more efficiently — as much as 30% to 40% more than a standard lawn," according to the Virgin Islands Resource Conservation and Development Council.
Folks on TikTok were excited to see this beneficial use of parking lot space.
"This should be the standard," one commenter wrote.
Another expert in the comments explained: "As a production horticulture and environmental landscaping major, yes. They did this 100% correctly, and it's nice to see that care went into it."
"We should put native plants wherever we can. Even in a parking lot!" someone else exclaimed.
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