Archive: Around Town

The Village of Lansing had a chance to show off its new rain garden Saturday.  One of 25 stops in the three-county Green Buildings Open House, the garden served as an example of how site landscaping is an important part of green design.  Cayuga Lake Watershed Network 's Sharon Anderson was on hand to tell people about the garden and make a presentation about rain gardens.  "It helps with the recharge of ground water and aquifer," Anderson says.  "It helps the water soak back into the ground, because once it hits the driveway it doesn't go back in, but when it goes into the rain garden it soaks down."

The Village rain garden, located in front of the Village of Lansing Office, is only one of many that Anderson has been responsible for creating.  Since she planted one at her Ludlowville home, she has become the local expert on rain gardens, helping municipalities and organizations create them and lecturing on their benefits and how to make one of your own.  Last year she and Environmental Planner Darby Kiley planted a rain garden behind the Lansing Community Center.  This year she had nearly 30 volunteers from all over New York State who were in Ithaca for Cornell Cooperative Extension's Master Gardener training, as well as a handful of Village residents who volunteered.

Saturday morning found Anderson watering the garden.  She says that it typically takes three years for a rain garden to establish itself.  Until that time it needs the same kind of care any garden would need.  "It's a rain garden, but we've had an incredibly dry summer," she says.  "The volunteers and the staff at the Village Office have done a great job of watering it to get it established."

When the garden was installed last July Village workers dug a bowl-shaped hole, replacing the natural clay with porous soil.  Over a two day period volunteers worked to shape and plant the garden, putting in stepping stones, and protecting it from deer with plastic barrier fencing.  Anderson says that the garden will not only capture water, but it recycles it and purifies it before it reenters the ground, helping to protect ground water used for wells and Cayuga Lake.

"When the rain flows over the driveway it picks up all sorts of different things," she explains.  "We would expect that there would be some salt, some little drops of motor oil, bits of dust, whatever is on the drive.  Part of the intent is that it cleans the water as it goes further downstream.  Over time we hold back water so it doesn't go into the stream and the lake so quickly.  It can help reduce flooding.   It also helps the tree that's right beside it.  It's collecting water that allows this tree to have additional water and a moist environment to keep it healthy in times like this dry summer."

The Green Buildings Open House was held at locations all over Tompkins, Tioga, and Schuyler counties.  Hosted by the Ithaca Green Building Alliance , it is part of a series of events the organization holds to promote the green and natural building trade.  The tour is part of an initiative of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association , and the National Solar Tour.  You could take the tour on your own with a 32 page guide book with maps and descriptions of each stop, or take a guided tour.  Stops included solar powered houses, homes powered and heated by geothermal and wind energy, homes with earthen and cork floors, and a variety of other green building methods.

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