Tag Archives: rain gardens

Forest Estates (Wheaton) Green Streets Help to Restore Sligo Creek

Streetside bioretention holds stormwater rather than sending it through pipes into regional stormwater ponds

Just south of downtown Wheaton, the Forest Estates is a single-family-home residential neighborhood tucked between Dennis Avenue and Sligo Creek Parkway. This neighborhood is the site of a “green streets” roadway rehabilitation project, where landscaping installed along the curb helps to control and treat rainfall runoff. The small landscaped areas use plants to trap pollutants carried by the first flush of rainfall runoff (i.e., runoff from the first inch of rainfall–the amount of the majority of rainfall events in this…

Learn More »

Also tagged , , | Leave a comment

RainScaping Solves Leisure World’s Ponding Problem

Ansu John

The “Mutual Eleven” Condominium Association in Leisure World had badly waterlogged garden areas. Clayey soils would not allow rainfall to infiltrate, and as a result any rainfall event resulted in standing water and ponding. Residents complained about the ugly standing water and said it even affected outdoor air conditioning units.

Before rainscapes were installed, waterlogged and clayey soils caused standing water during rainfall events.

At a seminar held by staff members of the Department of Environment Protection of Montgomery County, Darlene…

Learn More »

Also tagged , , | 1 Comment

When it rains on Arcola Avenue…

photo3

Ansu John

The Arcola Avenue Green Street Project integrates environmentally friendly landscaping right into the street design to treat and absorb rainfall runoff from the street.

Rainfall runoff (or stormwater) from the street carries with it automobile fluids, petroleum products, oil, pet waste, trash, and other debris. Along Arcola Avenue, curbside swales, rain gardens and curb extensions with plants filter the runoff through a mixture of highly permeable soils (sand, mulch, compost), then store the water in an underlying gravel bed from…

Learn More »

Also tagged , | 1 Comment

Going Native: Native Plant Sales for Spring

Native plants in a community garden

Are you tired of having to water your garden or yard in drought? How about the need to constantly spend money on fertilizers and pesticides to keep your plants healthy? If you answered yes to these questions then it looks like it’s time for you to go native!

Butterfly on a plant native to Maryland (photo: MAEOE)

Native plants are naturally occurring plants in the region in which they evolved. This means they’re used to our summer droughts and don’t need…

Learn More »

Also tagged | Leave a comment

Clean Water Summit Recap

Little Falls Creek

Ryan Zerbe, Watershed Education and Outreach Specialist, Department of Environmental Protection

On March 3rd over 165 residents attended the Community Clean Water Summit. This event, hosted by the Department of Environmental Protection, is in its second year. The new Silver Spring Civic Building provided a great location for residents to interact with all of the watershed groups in Montgomery County.

There were a total of 25 exhibitors and environmental nonprofits on hand representing groups like the Audubon Naturalist Society, the Alice Ferguson Foundation and…

Learn More »

Also tagged , | Leave a comment

Participate in the 2nd Annual Community Clean Water Summit

A view of Little Falls Creek

Keep our streams clean so they can be enjoyed by all! Photo credits: Paul Hlavinka, Muddy Branch Alliance Activity, July 2011.

 

If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to “think globally, but act locally”, in Montgomery County, then mark your calendars for the Community Clean Water Summit on March 3rd, 2012 (snow date March 11th) and show your support for the local streams in your watershed. They need your help!

This summit, which will take place at the Silver Spring Civic Building…

Learn More »

Also tagged , | Leave a comment

Local Teacher Recognized for Environmental Projects

Erol Miller with students in the Northwood High School Greenhouse

Rain garden at Northwood High School installed by Miller's students

If we were in high school, MyGreenMontgomery.org would want Mr. Erol Miller as our science teacher. His efforts to engage students in environmental topics have earned him the Chesapeake Bay Trust’s Educator of the Year Award!

Mr. Miller teaches Environmental Science and Horticulture at Northwood High School in Wheaton. His enthusiasm for Earth Science is palatable. “It’s real! And you can see it everyday.”, he says, and noted that his…

Learn More »

Also tagged | 1 Comment