Rain garden is a perennial addition to Sagamore Hills Park
by Laura Bednar
As part of Summit County Surface Water Management District’s “Clean Water Starts at Home” initiative, volunteers took to Sagamore Hills Park where they dug and planted a new rain garden.
SCSWMD’s initiative supports projects that manage stormwater runoff and protect water quality by preventing pollutants from flowing into streams, rivers and lakes when it rains, according to the organization’s website.
Sagamore Hills previously installed a rain garden near the park restrooms in 2011, and students from Rushwood Elementary reworked it as a pollinator garden for monarch butterflies in 2022.
Dan Bender, vice president/project manager at consulting firm Euthenics, said the garden was lost when the township switched the restrooms from a septic system to a sewer system. He is the liaison between Sagamore Hills Township and Summit Soil and Water Conservation District, another partner in the project.
Abbie Duché, outreach coordinator with the conservation district, said the SCSWMD wanted to have an event in each of the six watershed districts in Summit County in honor of Stormwater Awareness Week, which runs Oct. 1-7.
Trustee John Zaccardelli said the township meets with these representatives annually to decide on an environmental theme for the year and an educational project to accompany it.
A group of volunteers gathered on Sept. 16 to prepare the area next to the restroom building at the front of the park for the rain garden.
Sagamore resident Lee Moore offered a hand digging, saying, “I’ve dug countless holes.” When he and his wife moved into their Eaton Estate home, the yard was completely empty, and the couple planted all the outdoor vegetation themselves.
The group dug a 10-by-20-foot garden that is 5 inches deep with a 4-inch berm surrounding it. Once it was dug deep enough, topsoil was added to fill in the space. Bender gave credit to Sagamore’s Service Director Bill Cuprak and his team for creating a flat area for the garden along the sloped land by adding a wall of barn stone.
Faith Stidham, engineering consultant for the township, explained the gutters on the restroom building are connected to a pipe in the ground that leads directly to the garden to naturally water the area. The natural berm surrounding the garden keeps water and soil from spilling outside the garden.
Volunteers on Oct. 7, including students from Rushwood Elementary’s leadership group, planted native perennial plants including bee balm, marginal wood ferns, golden alexander, phlox divaricate, fox sedge and Virginia sweetspire.
The leadership group, made up of third- and fourth-graders, is led by Rushwood teacher Renee Piper and meets once a month to participate in a community-driven activity. This year’s group has 18 students.
Bender, Duché and Stidham, along with Rushwood librarian Dorie Zaccardelli, community members Lee Moore and Sandy Barbic, and township trustee John Zaccardelli, assisted and led the children in planting the garden. Water-tolerant plants were chosen that do well in partial shade based on the location of the garden, according to Bender.
He explained the plants were laid out based on height gradation, with taller plants near the back and shorter plants in the front.
“They bloom spring to fall, so there will always be something to look at,” said Bender.
After the children used buckets and cupped hands to spread mulch overtop of the garden, they were given their own white oak tree seedlings to take home.
John said the garden is a visual representation of how the students are helping the environment. “It enhances the park and the kids are going to enjoy see what the garden produces,” he said. “It sets a good example.”
Photo caption: Students in the leadership group at Rushwood Elementary helped plant and spread mulch to create a rain garden in Sagamore Hills Park. Far left: Dan Bender, liaison between the township and Summit Soil and Water Conservation District, helps Scarlett Long cover the plant roots in dirt. Photos by Laura Bednar.