Demo Rain Garden with Native Plants

It’s raining, it’s pouring; asphalt creates scoring, but not right here; it’s rather clear, rain gardens keep water absorbing! Often, asphalt paths like these have deep ditches on either side, from where rain runs beside the path after hitting the ground because it cannot soak through the impermeable asphalt. That is not the case here, where UC Berkeley students and staff created a rain garden. In the garden, you will find stones and native plants, which help return stormwater to the soil. Stormwater is rainwater that has hit the ground level, and it can cause flooding and creek pollution when it has nowhere to go, which is often the case in heavily paved areas. Rain gardens are a low cost way to provide excess water with a place to soak. You can check out more examples of rain gardens by Hearst Gym and Blum Center, and learn more about stormwater and its effects in Wholly H2O’s January 2023 newsletter.