Even now, with fall rushing toward winter, the handsome gardensalong Rushmore Drive in Burnsville draw the eye with their maroonsedums, purple asters and waving ornamental grasses.
All the gardens are near the curb, and all drop a foot or two below street level at their lowest point.
They're rain gardens.
Since they were planted in 2003, they've attracted nationalattention for their success in diverting storm water that would havegone directly into a local lake. About 90 percent of the water thatflows off Rushmore Drive now filters into the ground instead, trappingdebris and pollutants.
Bloomington is now trying to replicate some of that success with astreet reconstruction project along two blocks of Thomas Avenue Souththat normally dump storm water into Nine Mile Creek. Curb cuts willdirect storm water instead into six large rain gardens in privateyards. Maplewood, Plymouth, Arden Hills, St. Paul Park and Stillwaterhave undertaken similar projects, and Lake Elmo is planning one nextyear.
The idea is not to handle all storm water through rain gardens --even streets with rain gardens have storm sewer grates to take inoverflow -- but to use them as another weapon in the arsenal to preventwater that carries fertilizer, oil from the street, grass clippings anddebris from directly entering lakes and streams.
In Bloomington's case, a $25,000 grant from the Nine Mile CreekWatershed District is paying about half the cost of installing the raingardens, with the city's storm water utility fund paying the rest.
"It was a way to get residents involved in storm water treatment ina way that would be fun," said Steve Segar, a Bloomington civilengineer who works on water resources. "We wanted to start on a smallerscale, because this is the first time we've done this. But we hope toinclude it in future street reconstruction."
Richard Schrieber is one of the Thomas Avenue homeowners who will beplanting his rain garden at the end of the month. The garden in hisfront yard will measure about 10 feet by 30 feet and will feature aretaining wall on one side.
"Aesthetically, it's going to look nice," he said. "It's going to dosomething good for the environment. It's not going to cost me anything.And the more grass they take, the less I have to mow."
How they work
Rain gardens that divert storm water from streets use curb cuts to direct water into the gardens.
The depth of the garden is determined by how quickly the soilabsorbs water. Native plants with deep roots help absorb the water andneed limited care. In Burnsville, a strip of grass between curb cutsand gardens catches leaves and other debris that can just be raked up.Bloomington is trying a few different ways to catch sediment anddebris, one using underground pipes and another with a grate that canbe vacuumed out.
Twenty-two homeowners on Thomas Avenue had yards that fit thecriteria for rain gardens, but only six accepted, Segar said. While headmitted that was disappointing -- the installation is more expensivewithout the economies of scale of a larger project -- he said thegardens still give the city a mini-laboratory to see how well they work.
Residents will be responsible for maintenance, and the gardens willhave to be weeded, especially during the first two years. Schrieberisn't thrown by that. "If you have any pride in your yard, it's justsomething you do," he said.
Bruce Corzine, one of 17 Burnsville homeowners who have rain gardensalong Rushmore Drive, said he's not a gardener but spends maybe eighthours a year weeding and cutting back plants.
"It really depends on how much weeding you want to do," Corzinesaid. "We lost a few plants and had to replant some roses that hadgrown too close to the street. ... I like it. It's nice to be able tolook out the window and see not just grass."
The Burnsville project cost almost $150,000, partly because theproject modified an existing street and was done at a time when raingardens were still rare. Rusty Schmidt, a rain garden expert with theWashington Conservation District in Stillwater, said building raingardens is cheaper when it's done as part of street reconstruction. Hesaid that though rain gardens are just one small part of the stormwater puzzle, they're becoming more important as cities find they don'thave room for giant storm water ponds.
In Maplewood, rain gardens have been a standard part of streetreconstruction since 1999. The city now has more than 500 rain gardensin yards and more than 30 on city property.
"We've learned so much over the years," said Ginny Gaynor, thecity's natural resources coordinator. Maplewood, which supplies plantsand digs the gardens for homeowners, offers 10 different garden designsfor residents, who plant and maintain the gardens.
Every couple of years the city offers "weed consults" to homeowners, a service that 10 percent of them used last year.
Gaynor said she isn't sure if the gardens ultimately save money. Butshe said if the city can meet its watershed district requirement toinfiltrate one inch of rain on street projects partly with raingardens, more expensive underground storm water systems don't need tobe built.
"Our goal is always to do as many gardens as we can in a boulevard," she said.
Mary Jane Smetanka • 612-673-7380
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