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Wednesday, January 7, 2004 Learn to reclaim your rain at rain garden workshop Even though spring is still weeks away, it is not too early to think about how your garden can be the envy of your neighbors this spring. What if you can have a beautiful garden and, at the same time, conserve water, reduce your water bill and help protect our waterways? Sound difficult? Having a well-watered flower garden does not have to be expensive. Nor do you have to ignore local or state restrictions on outdoor watering. All you need is a little bit of imagination and a rain garden. The Clean Water Campaign has partnered with local governments and the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service to present a workshop on constructing a rain garden. These how-to workshops will take place in January and February in Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett. An estimated 20 percent of water consumed by the average household is used outdoors. Rain gardens allow you to reduce your outdoor water use, keep a nice garden and save the money you would have spent on water to keep your landscape green. Rain gardens work by capturing run-off from your roof or drive way and diverting it to gardens and low-lying areas to slowly soak into the soil. After all, it’s your rainwater; why not use it? An added benefit is that rain gardens reduce the amount of storm water runoff and pollutants in the runoff that enter local streams. The workshops are scheduled as follows: • Jan. 15: Cherokee County, 6:30-8:30 p.m., R.T. Jones Memorial Library, 116 Brown Industrial Parkway, Canton. For more information, contact Kelley O’Brien at 404-463-3259. • Jan. 27: Clayton County, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Clayton County Water Authority’s Community Room, 1600 Battle Creek Rd., Morrow. For more information, call Kim Zimmerman at 678-422-2838. • Jan. 29: North Fulton, 7-8:30 p.m., North Fulton Annex, 7741 Roswell Road, Atlanta. For more information, contact Corlette Dennard at 404-730-8097. • Feb. 5: South Fulton, 7-8:30 p.m., South Fulton Annex, 5600 Stonewall Tell Road, College Park. For more information, contact Corlette Dennard at 404-730-8097. • Feb. 10: Cobb County, 7-8:30 p.m., Cobb County Water Quality Lab Training Room, 662 South Cobb Drive, Marietta. For more information, call Jennifer McCoy at 770-528-1482. • Feb. 25: Gwinnett County, 7-8:30 p.m., Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center’s Auditorium, 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville. For more information, contact Michael O’Shield at 678-376-7157. • Feb. 26: DeKalb County, 7-8:30 p.m., DeKalb Cooperative Extension Service Training Room, 4380 Memorial Drive, Decatur (across from the Sheriff Department). For more information, contact Alex Mohajer at 404-508-2518. The presenter for the workshops in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett is Dr. Rose Mary Seymour of the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service Office in Griffin. The workshop presenters at the Cherokee workshop include Candace Stoughton, Nature Conservancy of Georgia; Diane Minick, Environmental Impact Assessment, LLC and Todd Hurt, Cherokee County Extension Agent. They will show you how to construct a rain garden and what plants to select. Plants suitable for rain gardens are both beautiful and helpful. They add color and interest to your landscape and serve as habitat for butterflies, birds and other wildlife. There is no charge for the workshop, but registration is required. To register, visit the Clean Water Campaign’s Web site at www.cleanwatercampaign.com or call 404.463.3259. The Clean Water Campaign works to educate the public about activities that help prevent water pollution in the areas of landscaping and lawn care, auto service and repair, handling of household hazardous wastes, septic tank maintenance and more. It is a cooperative, multi-agency public education initiative spearheaded by 20 local governments in metro Atlanta and managed by the Atlanta Regional Commission. For more information about the Clean Water Campaign, contact Kelley O’Brien at 404-463-3259.
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