By Layne Knoche, RORG Landscape Designer
With students returning to campus in just a few short weeks, the Red Oak Rain Garden is ready to greet them with a new bridge and showy blooms! Our flowering plants this month include Purple Poppy Mallow, Purple Coneflower, ‘Rozanne’ Geranium, Butterflyweed, Yellow Coneflower, Royal Catchfly, Cardinal Flower, Joe Pye Weed, and Rosinweed. Nodding Onion, which was installed in Fall 2020 by our amazing volunteers, is performing very well and is proving to be a great addition to the garden. See our updated plant library here.
Upcoming volunteer opportunities
Regular workdays occur each Friday from 9:00-11:00am, weather dependent. The RORG Team and regular volunteers have been welcoming and training several new volunteers from the Champaign-Urbana community, the Champaign County Master Gardeners, and the East Central Illinois Master Naturalists. If you’re interested in working with us, feel free to stop by!
With funds from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation Community Stewardship Grant, the RORG team is planning for a fall installation of two new garden beds adjacent to RORG. Stay tuned for upcoming volunteer opportunities for that in September and October.
Fundraising
Now that the bridge has been built, our fundraising focus shifts to the installation of an interpretive sign that explains what a rain garden is, as well as the general history of the Red Oak Rain Garden. If you’re interested in supporting this phase of the project, please go to https://redoakraingarden.org/support/.
redoakraingarden.org 