University stuns visitors with brilliant solution to flooding: 'Performing above and beyond my expectations'

A verdant, colorful, and innovative garden at the University of Illinois Extension serves to alleviate flooding on campus through its ingenious design.

"The Red Oak Rain Garden soaks up rainwater, enhances the campus and community aesthetic and educational experience, and promotes well-being for everyone who visits," explains the garden's website. 

IPM News describes how the garden works in two ways. "The garden's shallow bowl-like shape and colander structure allows water to soak into the ground rather than pooling," for one.

Secondly, the native plants used in the garden are vital to its function. The plants' roots allow for mycorrhizal fungi to proliferate."These fungi act like a glue, improving the soil structure by forming tiny channels — like little straws — that let water move through easily," according to IPM.

The garden has earned several recognitions for its ability to attract butterflies, birds, and pollinators. 

Drawing in and sustaining pollinators like bees and butterflies benefits humans by protecting and sustaining the food supply.

Layne Knoche, a stormwater outreach associate who works with RORG, said, "The lessons from the Red Oak Green Garden reach far beyond campus. These are meant to be tools that people from around the state can utilize in implementing successful [green stormwater infrastructure]."

Rewilding spaces with native plants is not only aesthetically pleasing, but financially, too. Many native plants — like buffalo grass and clover — don't require as much irrigation, saving money and water. They also save time since they need much less maintenance than other gardens or traditional lawns.

In fact, an entire garden overhaul isn't always necessary to reap these benefits. Even a partial lawn replacement using xeriscaping, which designs gardens strategically to use less water, can lower costs.

The EPA reports that not only are rain gardens money-savers, they "can also help filter out pollutants in runoff and provide food and shelter for butterflies, song birds and other wildlife."

Would you want a garden that can take care of itself? Sign me up 👍 Depends on the price 🤔 No — that ruins the fun ☹️ I don't like gardening ❌ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

Rain gardens can be created in a variety of spaces, too, from large backyard spaces to tiny urban curbsides.

Knoche told IPM a charming story about watching pre-schoolers take in the resplendent space. "I still get chills to this day because it was the first time that as a landscape designer, I saw a space that I had envisioned performing above and beyond my expectations," he said.

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