Paper Mill Park Rain Garden

The 850 square foot rain garden at Paper Mill Park in New Castle County Delaware was installed in April 2020 by Garden Square Landscaping, Inc, and White Clay Wild and Scenic Program. Water that falls onto the 1500 square foot roof of the pavilion is piped from the gutters underground to the garden area. The soils are poorly drained at the park and the garden needed in ground vertical void pipes (seen in photos above), downspout overflows, and a ground level water run off area to increase storm water retention and allow for overflow release. Seventeen flats of native plants were installed, or approximately 850 very small landscape plugs.

Because of the nature in which this rain garden was constructed (water storage below, dryer bioretention soils on top) plants were selected that tend to do well on the dryer side, but can also withstand bouts of inundation. The planting includes: Andropogon virginicus (broomsedge bluestem), Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed), Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed), Aster novae angliea ‘Purple Dome’ (New England aster), Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama), Carex amphibola (creek sedge), Packera aurea (golden groundsel), Penstemon digitalis (foxglove beardtongue), and Pycnanthemum muticum (mountain mint). New Castle County provided funding for the construction of the garden via a grant and the White Clay Wild and Scenic Program provided funding for the plants.