Low-maintenance rain gardens are being planted to protect sensitive species of the Brunette River.
The city has partnered with Evergreen to plant two rain gardens in lower Hume Park, adjacent to the Brunette River.
“The salmon and turtles that are returning to the Brunette River, and the urban ecosystem as a whole, will benefit from these gardens,” Claude LeDoux, the city’s horticulture manager, said in a press release. “The soil and plant roots in the rain gardens work together to naturally filter and remove pollutants that would otherwise be flowing into the waterway.”
The city notes that rain gardens are a self-watering, low-maintenance garden designed to protect rivers by capturing stormwater that runs off hard surfaces after it rains. Stormwater contains harmful pollutants such as oil, litter, animal waste and heavy metals, but rain gardens provide biological treatment to stormwater using soil, plants, roots and microbes.
Volunteers recently planted grooved rush, hardstem bulrush and Oregon grape in rain gardens near the Brunette River in Hume Park.
Evergreen, a group that aims to inspire action that greens cities, visits lower Hume Park on the second Sunday of every month from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers monitor water quality, care for native plants, help manage invasive species and learn about the local ecology of the watershed.
See www.evergreen.ca for info and registration.
