Rain Garden: planted in time for the storm

Thanks to the folks who came out on a cloudy Sunday, the Spy Pond Park rain garden is planted looking great. As the next few days bring several inches of rain, the garden's plants and soil will be at work filtering pollutants carried by storm water, helping cleanse the water that flows directly to Spy Pond.

At Sunday's planting event, lead garden designer Sally Naish directed the group in laying out the potted plants according to a design she and fellow Garden Club member, Corrina Vanderspeck, had created this summer.

Sally (far right) worked closely with the Teresa DeBenedictis (center) of the Department of Public works, as well as members of the Planning Department, Friends of Spy Pond Park and the Park and Recreation Commission to find an appropriate public location for this first rain garden. They placed the garden in a highly visible location so that future rain gardeners will have easy access to walk through and observe the garden as it matures. The garden is similar in size to a typical front, side or back yard in Arlington, and the kinds of plants that will grow at the Sy Pond Park location are the same as those home gardeners can find in local garden shops. See our previous story that describes some of the benefits of planting a rain garden.

Made possible by a grant from the New England Grassroots Environment Fund, the donated design services of Sally Naish from Light and Shade Garden Design, Inc., and the generous donation of time by volunteers and Town employees, this public garden project has created a new learning opportunity for the community.

If you are interested in helping with future rain garden projects in Town, or would like to help with maintenance of this garden, please leave your name and contact information with Sustainable Arlington at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .