By Erin Schimenti, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Stormwater Intern
Spring of 2024 marked a year since I began working with the amazing RORG team. This was a year full of great opportunities and new experiences, and I learned so much about rain gardens, native plants, and green stormwater infrastructure. I was very happy to learn that I would spend the summer of 2024 continuing my work with RORG and developing my knowledge further as a stormwater intern with Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG).
Botanical Drawings
The biggest project that I worked on this summer was creating botanical drawings of RORG’s entire plant selection – 59 species in total. I began this project in November of 2023, but this summer, I had the time to make much more progress.
I’ve really enjoyed depicting our (mostly native!) plant selection in this form. A picture speaks a thousand words, but sometimes art can emphasize details that even photos have trouble conveying. One of the project goals is to direct focus towards elements that might go unnoticed at first glance, from the patterns of veins on a leaf to the details of very small flowers that are usually only seen in clusters.
Another thing that makes botanical drawings fun is the potential for stylization. I try to be as accurate as possible regarding the plants’ unique qualities, but there is still room for creativity in how I present them. Style can further help with emphasis, and it can also make the drawings more interesting to look at. As I have progressed through our roster of plants, I have experimented with color and line art in different ways to achieve these ends.
As of writing this blog post, I have completed just over half of the planned species. Once the drawings are completed, we will be able to use them in all kinds of different ways to promote RORG and aid in native plant education. I’m very excited, and I hope you’ll look forward to seeing them when the time comes!
Social Media
In addition to the botanical drawings, I also spent a large portion of the summer training under our current Communication Coordinator, Abbey Ascolani, as I prepare to take the reins of this position in the fall. Over the past year, Abbey has done great work for our social media pages, so it was very helpful to have her teaching me the ropes! We met weekly to discuss all kinds of things related to the position, including running our annual plant face-off, Rain Garden Rumble, which takes place every spring. With Abbey’s help, I’ve gotten more practice at creating graphics for our posts and even learned about video editing, which is a brand-new skill for me!
It has been challenging but fun to find new ways to engage with our community through a digital medium. There are a lot of nuances to social media communication, especially for an educational project like RORG. I’ve learned that there is a balance to strike between purely informational content and fun posts that will grab people’s attention. This is only made more complicated with an ever-changing algorithm, and the different audiences each platform fosters. This is why I’ve also learned about collecting and interpreting metrics from our social media platforms to better understand how we can most effectively reach our goals.
In July, I was given the opportunity to do a day-long takeover of IISG’s Instagram story. In some ways, I felt that this was a way to put the things I had learned to the test. I had never done a social media takeover before, so it took me some time to plan out how I wanted to structure everything, but it was such a pleasure to engage with their audience and talk about the RORG throughout the day! Afterwards, I was surprised to hear that so many people actually tuned in and enjoyed the activities I included. It was a good reminder that connecting with an audience online can be as valuable as the work done in person.
Workdays and Tours
…But that’s not to say connecting face-to-face isn’t also important! I’ve spent a lot of this summer in the rain garden itself, engaging with volunteers and visitors alongside Volunteer Coordinator Maddy Craft. Spending my Thursday nights and Friday mornings attending our volunteer workdays has taught me so much about the technical side of rain garden maintenance. As someone who did not have much experience working outdoors before college, getting physically involved in the garden has been especially eye-opening for me and has helped me feel more confident in my other work as well. Even considering the hours I spent this summer looking at reference photos and drawing native plants, seeing and touching them in person was like the last piece of the puzzle before I could really feel confident in my identification skills. Not to mention, RORG’s volunteer base is so knowledgeable and welcoming, so it’s always a joy working with them!
The other half of my work in the rain garden consisted of giving tours to various groups who came to visit. At this time last summer, Maddy and I were working together to develop a script and preparing for our first tour. Now, I’m proud to say that we’ve given many tours and are reaching a point where we don’t have to rely on that script anymore.
Photo by Amanda Christenson.
I’ve grown so passionate about RORG during my time on the team, and it warms my heart to be able to share this enthusiasm with others. Many of our guests hadn’t visited or even heard of RORG before, but left with a new appreciation for it and plans to visit again. Knowing that I can teach others about the garden feels like a testament to all I have learned during my time here, and it’s one of the parts of this job I look forward to continuing the most.
In conclusion
I am endlessly grateful for my experiences with the Red Oak Rain Garden this summer. Over the past few months, I have been able to do work that I am truly proud of, all while learning so much about green stormwater infrastructure. This rain garden is such a special place with a special team behind it, and I am so excited to continue working with them this fall as I begin my senior year!
Erin Schimenti is an incoming senior at the University of Illinois who loves being outside and exploring the natural areas around campus. She is pursuing a dual degree in Sustainable Design and Communication. She is especially interested in urban nature and sustainable architecture. In the future, she hopes to combine art and sustainability to help communities and their local environments thrive.
Red Oak Rain Garden 