A New Rain Garden at AACC

If you travel by the entry to the employee parking area on Anne Arundel Community College’s (AACC) Arnold campus these days, you may notice the area seems a whole lot greener.

Thanks to a team of Anne Arundel Community College volunteers and funds from a Unity Gardens Green Program grant, a new rain garden using leaf compost, plants and mulch has beautified the area. 

The garden is now a part of several other rain gardens on the AACC Arnold campus, including near the dining hall and its adjacent parking lot as well as beside Ring Road.

The newly landscaped area is a plus for the Arnold area, as the 300-square-foot garden is diverting runoff from Dividing Creek, a tributary of the Magothy River.

The project was a collaborative effort between faculty from the college's biology department, Professional and Support Staff Organization (PSSO) members, the college facilities department and its Landscaping Committee. Professors of Botany and Horticulture and a professional landscaper who is a PSSO member designed the project.

Part of the school’s Earth Day activities, volunteers, including faculty, staff and students from the botany and environmental science classes, recently planted native plants like coneflowers, black-eyed susans, red cardinal flowers, iris, blue-eyed grass, sweetbay magnolia, winterberry, summersweet and buttonbush. These plants can tolerate drought conditions and provide a food source and cover for birds and butterflies.

The funding for the project was from Unity Gardens, a nonprofit in the county that helps build partnerships by creating green projects, promoting environmental enhancement and environmental education (www.unitygardens.org).

“The rain garden provides employees entering the lot with a daily visual reminder about environmentally friendly storm water management techniques,” said Debbie McDaniel-Shaughney, public relations manager for AACC.

The garden will be maintained through AACC’s Service-Learning Program.