From The Courier-Journal
A garden that became a haven for butterflies and birds -- and a sponge for water flowing off the rooftops of two homes -- has replaced a dense mat of lawn in one Highlands neighborhood.
"I love grass when it's somebody else's," said Cee Geis, who shares the demonstration garden with her neighbor, Jack Francis, in the 1800 block of Harvard Drive.
The garden, along with a couple of barrels connected to one of Francis' downspouts, is designed to reduce the amount of rain getting into the sewer system. That's something local officials are under court order to accomplish.
It's also part of a pilot project by the Metropolitan Sewer District, which expects to spend at least $800 million reducing hundreds of millions of gallons of bacteria-tainted overflows into Beargrass Creek and the Ohio River.
Rain gardens and rain barrels are going to be part of the solution, said Bud Schardein, MSD's chief.
"We are trying to show people this is a good thing," he said.
Water from Geis' roof flows directly into the garden. Francis' flow goes into two barrels, one of which is connected to a soaker hose that can be used to water the garden when needed.
Its mostly all-native plants -- including butterfly milkweed, sunflowers, and great blue lobelia -- were put in by MSD landscape restoration specialist Phyllis Croce and volunteers, with plants purchased from Dropseed Native Plant Nursery. Those selected tolerate drought and wetness.
The Harvard garden cost $1,200 to create, Croce said, but added that people could put one in for a little as $50 if they do all the work themselves and get seeds or plants from friends or on sale. Croce said she's working with others to develop a manual on how to create a rain garden and to publicize what plants work best for Louisville.
Louisville is just the latest city to try to catch the rain garden and rain barrel bug, as federal officials press local and state governments to control storm-water runoff, a major source of pollution to the nation's waterways.
Portland, Ore.; Madison, Wis.; Burlington, Vt.; Chicago; Pittsburgh; Washington, D.C.; and Kansas City, Mo.; are some that are getting into the act.
The Bluegrass PRIDE program in Central Kentucky has persuaded about 250 people to buy rain barrels for more than $100 in the past three years, said Amy Sohner, executive director of the nonprofit group that works with local governments.
Many offer financial incentives, such as making rain barrels available for little or no cost to encourage participation, said Chris Kloss, a staff scientist with the Low Impact Development Center in Washington, a group that promotes alternative storm water management systems.
Portland also gives residents a break on a their storm-water assessment fees, and has a program to disconnect people's downspouts from sewer lines for free, sending water into yards or gardens, Kloss said.
Schardein said he's looking at what financial incentives might work in Louisville. If half the city's households were to install barrels, gardens or both, the city's sewage overflows could be reduced by 20 percent to 30 percent, he said.
Already the Harvard garden has become a curiosity.
As many as 20 people a week are picking up fliers about it from a front yard box. "We wanted a place to demonstrate this," said Francis, who is active with the Belknap Neighborhood Association, a project partner. "We wanted to show something that is replicable."
There's a learning curve, said Lynn Hinkle, spokeswoman for a "10,000 Rain Gardens" campaign in Kansas City. Until that campaign began, "people did not know what rain gardens were in Kansas City."
Now there's a buzz, she said, with businesses setting up incentives for their employees, and schools making installation of rain gardens part of their curriculum, she said.
That sort of clamor is what MSD officials hope to achieve in Louisville, Croce said.
"My dream -- like a chicken in every pot -- is a rain garden in every yard," she said.
Reporter James Bruggers can be reached at (502) 582-4645.
