Rain Garden at Highlandtown Healthy Living Center

 

What exactly is a Rain Garden?  In front of our new health center on Fleet Street, Baltimore Medical System has planted one in the sidewalk.  Click here for a flyer showing the BMS Rain Garden Under Construction.

 

Rain gardens capture water and filter it before it runs off into storm drains. Rain gardens feature native plants that are low maintenance because they tolerate both wet and dry conditions.

 

A rain garden can fit into a corner of your own backyard or be big enough to cover part of a city sidewalk or park. There is one in Patterson Park and another one in front of the Herring Run Watershed Association's green building on Belair Road. 

 

On Fleet Street, engineers have designed the BMS rain garden so that water running down the street will enter through a curb cut at the top.  On a rainy day, a small water fall will be created running through a bed of large stones.  Water will collect in a ponding area at the bottom, where it will be filtered by the soil before it runs back out into the lower gutter.

 

 

We have learned how to make a rain garden with the help of many partners:

 

• Chesapeake Bay Trust
• Herring Run Watershed Association
• The Baltimore City Office of Sustainability
• The Baltimore City Department of Transportation
• Neighborhood Design Center
• Colbert, Matz & Rosenfelt Engineers
• K. Gay Associates - Landscape Architects
• The Center for Watershed Protection
• The Baltimore Harbor Watershed Association
• Hostetter Construction
• The Southeast Community Development Corporation
• The Southeast Anchor Library of the Enoch Pratt

  

Come see our rain garden at 3700 Fleet Street!