House and Garden Announcements

HMC Hosts Environmental Program: Building Your Own Rain Garden

July 03, 2012

Hunterdon Medical Center’s Environmental Stewardship Committee is hosting a special program with the Master Gardeners of Rutgers Cooperative Research and Extension focusing on building your own rain garden.  The program will be held on Thursday, July 12^th from noon-1:00 p.m. in Meeting Room C at Hunterdon Medical Center.

Rain gardens do not only look pretty, but have some health benefits.  During heavy rainstorms water washes into the streets from sidewalks, parking lots and lawns into storm drains and eventually ends up in local bodies of water. 

What many people don’t see washing away are pollutants such as pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals which have accumulated on lawns, driveways and streets.  A rain garden is a shallow depression in the lawn which captures storm water and allows this water to penetrate and move into the ground and pollutants are filtered out, nutrients are used by the plants, and pesticides are broken down by microorganisms. 

No registration is required for this program and attendees will be entered to win a rain barrel ortulip designed rain chain.