TANNERSVILLE — The Mountain Top Arboretum presents the webinar Rain Gardens and Biodiversity 10-11:30 a.m. March 12. One way to increase your biodiversity and help with downstream flooding is to install a rain garden, a concave area planted heavily with native plants, that collects and cleans the rainwater from your downspouts before returning it to the ground.
In a natural environment, rainwater gets absorbed into the ground where plants and microbes filter the water. A rain garden is designed to mimic this process by slowing the flow and absorbing rainwater before it is dumped into nearby waterways.
Carolle Huber will discuss site assessment, soil analysis, design guidelines, construction and plant selection. By planting a rain garden you will be increasing the biodiversity of your neighborhood. And in today’s world of decreasing insect and bird populations, that is critical.
As a landscape architect in New Jersey, Huber has been designing landscapes for 25 years, working on large developments, subdivisions, wetlands restoration, green roofs, and residential design. As an environmentalist, it is important to her that our landscapes are environmentally sustainable, and will cause no harm to future generations. She holds degrees in both Environmental Science and Landscape Architecture. Carolle has been published in many magazines, and won numerous professional awards.
She recently started a new business with her daughter Ruby; Aster Plans. This is an online landscape design service for people with small yards who want their homes to be more sustainable. www.AsterPlans.com.
Huber spends her spare time hiking and cooking in the Catskills with her family, keeping bees and creating outdoor art. She can be reached at Carolle@AsterPlans.com.
The webinar is free, register at www.mtarboretum. org. For information, email info@mtarboretum.org or call 518-589-3903.