Jump into spring with your very own urban bioswale
March 20, 2014
Happy Spring!
Urban gardens are wonderful locations for small bioswales.
Bioswales are sunken depressions that collect, treat, and drain stormwater. During rainy months, water fills the bottom of a bioswale and slowly drains out, filtering silt and pollutants out of the water.
Bioswales help keep stormwater out of our sewer system – saving both taxpayer dollars and the environment!
In today’s Oregonian, Portland landscape designer, Megan Galaher, shares her seven fool-proof plants to include in your urban bioswale:
- Spirea x bumalda – lovely pink flowers that bloom mid-summer
- Vaccinium ovatum – an evergreen huckleberry that tolerates all climates
- Juncus patens – blue, long, grass-like rush
- Acorus gramineus ‘Ogon’ – leafy yellow and green Japanese rush that is maintenance free! Put around the outer perimeter of your swale.
- Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’ - also known as black mondo grass, this dark rush is also maintenance free and will add unique color variety to your swale
- Polystichum munitum – rich green Sword fern
- Cornus sericea ‘Kelseyi” – dogwood that turns brilliant read during winter months
To see an example of an urban bioswale firsthand, visit the Portland Garden Club Show at the World Forestry Center, going on May 17 - 18.
Seven sure-fire bioswale plants: Ask the expert
Megan Galaher in The Oregonian, March 20, 2014