Building the Red Oak Rain Garden with Eliana Brown and Layne Knoche #goodgrowing

On this week’s Good Growing podcast, we talk with Eliana Brown, Water Resources Outreach Specialist, and Layne Knoche, Extension Outreach Associate, about the Red Oak Rain Garden. We go into detail on their process for redesigning the rain garden while remaining sensitive to the site two massive existing trees a red oak and a sycamore. Learn about how they graded the soils so carefully using an air knife to gently expose the tree roots. Learn about Layne’s design inspiration and how he applied his style of design to the site. Eliana and Layne also work on a statewide initiative to teach homeowners how to build their own rain gardens with the Rainscaping program plus they have been publishing guides for different native garden types. Listen and get inspired and then check out the Rainscaping program to learn how to build your very own rain garden. Watch us on YouTube https://youtu.be/m62-KWJFL0o Red Oak Rain Garden (RORG) Website https://redoakraingarden.org/ RORG Facebook https://www.facebook.com/RainGardenUIUC/photos/?ref=page_internal RORG Twitter https://twitter.com/RainGardenUIUC RORG Instagram https://www.instagram.com/raingardenUIUC/ Rainscaping Education Program https://extension.purdue.edu/rainscaping/ Native Plant Garden Guides – includes woodland, full sun, rain garden, spring ephemerals, and more! https://iiseagrant.org/resources/publications-products/results/?_sft_creator=c-eliana-brown Why a rain garden on campus? At what stage did Eliana bring in Layne to work on the RORG? Layne’s feelings about designing a rain garden on University of Illinois campus Layne’s approach and inspiration to designing the RORG? Does it look different now than you had originally envisioned? What was it like working U of I campus? This likely is a sensitive location near two large trees. When it came to the construction of the rain garden was earthwork involved? Was any special consideration taken for the root system? What type of plant material was sourced? What were your methods for installing? Did all the plants establish easily? Every spring the RORG group does Mulch Madness. Who came up with this amazing idea? What resources do you have for people to design and build their own rain gardens? Check out the Good Growing Blog extension.illinois.edu/blogs/good-growing ___ Any products mentioned during the podcast are in no way a promotion of these products.