The folks who turned out on a blustery October day to thin and trim the rain garden next to the Grand Marais Public Library are (L-R) Maxine Linehan, Amber Humphrey, Kerrie Fabius, Ilena Berg and Theresa Oberg.
Cook County Soil & Water District Manager Kerrie Fabius appeared before the Grand Marais City Council in September 2011, seeking support for more rain gardens in the city. Fabius was disappointed when Grand Marais Mayor Larry Carlson cast a dissenting vote and called the rain garden at the Grand Marais Public Library an “eyesore.” On Thursday, October 20, workers from Soil & Water, Grand Marais Parks, and Cook County Extension Service as well as Cook County Master Gardener tackled the overgrown rain garden, thinning it out and making it look less “wild,” said Fabius.
Pausing from plant thinning in the blustering wind, Fabius admitted that the library rain garden is not the best example of what a rain garden can look like. She pointed to the rain garden at the Cook County courthouse and Cook County Community Center as rain gardens that are not only working well, but that look nice.
The problem with the library rain garden, said Fabius, is that it is actually working too well. “It’s the aster,” said Fabius, “it’s flourishing!”
As they get the library rain garden shaped up, Kerrie Fabius and Ilena Berg of Cook County Soil & Water discuss the merits of the plants in the rain garden at the Grand Marais Library on Thursday, October 20. (L-R)
The library rain garden could use more attention, said Fabius, and she said if she does receive the Clean Water Fund grant for other rain gardens in the city—one almost across the street from the library—she could possibly use some of the funds to enhance the library rain garden. She said it would be nice to place some rocks or some sort of border around the garden, to define its edges.
Whether Soil & Water receives the grant or not, Fabius said more attention would be given to the library rain garden. Indeed, the group thinning and trimming the rain garden on a bitter cold fall day were excited about taking care of the area.
They happily pointed out the dogwood, the sedge, and the black-eyed Susan, and Master Gardener Max Linehan explained the beneficial plants in the rain garden, such as the Joe Pye weed, which attracts butterflies, and swamp milkweed, which becomes a rich magenta color and attracts both butterflies and hummingbirds. “The more people know about rain gardens, the better, said Linehan.
What is a rain garden?
According to Cook County Soil & Water District Manager Kerrie Fabius, a rain garden is like any other garden, except it collects rainfall and snowmelt runoff from impervious surfaces and gathers it into a small basin where plants can filter and treat the water. Rain gardens are an effective way of improving water quality in cities and towns because they capture storm water runoff and pollutants from these impervious surfaces and treat it through natural biological processes.
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