City sees flooding improvement and lush plants at rain gardens

This summer has been wet and full of rain for the nation’s capital and the rest of the province.

With the soggy days, city staff decided to check in on a few of the municipality’s rain gardens, where they found lush flowers, green plants and limited flooding.

In 2021, the Manordale Park garden was installed in front of the Margaret Rywalk Community Centre. Since then, the garden has grown “significantly” city staff said in a press release.

“By installing this rain garden, the city redirected runoff from the community building roof into the garden, keeping stormwater runoff on site and preventing erosion damage to the walkway and building,” staff wrote.

New England Aster, Canada Anemone and Purple Coneflowers are just some of the plants that are soaking up the rain water from the roof of the building and the sky. It was the first rain garden installed on city property.

Since then, a second garden at Aquaview Park in Orléans was installed in May 2023. Staff say they learned from the first garden, adding more diverse plants to the second like Butterfly Milkweed, Blazing Star and Bowman’s Root.

“Like Manordale, this rain garden is managing stormwater from the community building’s roof, while creating a wonderful pollinator habitat too,” staff wrote.

The municipality offers $2,500 for residents to create their own rain garden.