The initial construction of the project was completed at the end of Oct 2017. Though we were scheduled to plant it with lots of amazing native plants, it was a little too close to the first frost date in New Jersey, so we opted to way until April 2018 to actually do the planting.
That said, I completed some graphics for the project and wanted to share them. This first is a site plan that shows were the Rain Park is in South Orange, NJ.
The plants we selected for the space are native perennials and grasses. They represent some of my favorite plants like B. autrailis (which takes 2 to 3 years to really branch out) and E. pallida (one of the most beautiful coneflowers widely available on the market).
One of the primary goals of the Rain Park is to redefine how we deal with stormwater. The plants and the way the space is built reduces the amount of stormwater flowing into the river significantly. All of the rainwater (and snowmelt) that runs across the Rain Park are filtered by the plants growing there. This has lots of benefits downstream for people and wildlife alike.