CCES Goes Green with Rain Garden
By Paulette Unger, Chair of Upper School Science Department

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At first glance, you may not see much of a garden here. But the story lies in what you don’t see, and that’s the beauty of the CCES Rain Garden.

Because what you don’t see is the pollution that this garden traps and prevents from reaching the Reedy River.

The CCES IB juniors built a rain garden as part of their Group IV project. Part of the students’ science internal assessment, the Group IV project is designed to be a ten-hour independent and interdisciplinary research project allowing students to gain a deeper understanding of science as a process.

This year the students decided to take action in helping the local environment. After a presentation about rain gardens by John Tynan of Upstate Forever, and with the help of Upper School physics teacher Dr. Rodney Sullivan and Service Learning Director Elizabeth Jarrett, the students designed and built a rain garden on the Upper School lot to reduce storm water pollution to the Reedy River. By capturing rainwater from the parking lot, the rain garden allows the runoff to soak slowly into the ground while the plants filter contaminants that could end up in the groundwater and surface water. The plants also help curb soil erosion in that area.

In addition, the rain garden offered many teaching and curricular activities and became a true testament to teamwork.

The IB students worked in small groups to complete the necessary steps toward developing their rain garden. These included measuring the drainage area, creating a design, choosing plants, laying out the garden design, digging and clearing the garden area, preparing and adding soil, planting the flowers and grasses, mulching the garden, and hoping for rain--or watering the garden!

CCES parent Cathy Foster was instrumental in choosing and obtaining the plants for the garden (and she has been helping to maintain and water it over the summer). Plant identification signs were also created by students Chelsea Moehlenbrock and Rachel Amato. In the upper area, directly beneath the drain, you can find Andropogon glomeratus (bushy bluestem) and Symphoricarpos orbiculatus (coralberry). Once they start to reach their maximum height, they will help slow down the water flow. Beneath those, in the middle of the garden, students planted Monarda didyma (beebalm), Helianthus divaricatus (woodland sunflower), Aster patens (late blue aster), and Phlox Carolina 'Alata' (Alata phlox). Finally, some smaller plants at the far end of the garden include Eupatorium serotinum (late flowering boneset), and Vernonia novae-borescensis (New York ironweed).

As with all gardens, the CCES rain garden’s beauty will become more apparent as the plants grow and bloom, revealing the garden’s design.

What will be less apparent, but equally attractive, is the way this innovative garden aids the environment on the school campus, as well as the environment in the surrounding community.