North Suffolk Garden Club Hosted an Informative Talk on How Native Plant Rain Gardens Help Filter Contaminants and Keep Waterways Clean

Educating residents on a planting strategy to keep waterways clean, the North Suffolk Garden Club presented an open-to-the-public program called “All About Rain Gardens.” The club hosted speaker Roxanne Zimmer, community horticulture specialist at Cornell Cooperative Extension for Suffolk County. Her talk focused on how to create rain gardens by installing and using native plants to filter pollutants before they reach local waterways. She explained that the long roots of native plants in rain gardens help protect precious ground water, filter storm run-off, and enhance the landscape.

Because torrential rains can result in runoff that often carries fertilizer, car oil, anti-freeze, and other toxic waste, Zimmer advocates rain gardens to the rescue. She says that rain gardens absorb 30 to 40 percent more water than lawns, and capture water slowly and filter out the “junk” on the way down. Some plant choices include purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, blue flag iris, and various ferns among the many native plants with robust root systems.

Rain gardens are gaining ground and for good reason. Let the roots do their work.

Roxanne Zimmer shows the value of native plant root systems when designing a rain garden.