Author Archives: raingardenuiuc

By Guest blogger Peggy Doty, Energy and Environmental Stewardship Educator, Illinois Extension Winter brings a unique opportunity to view wildlife in the Red Oak Rain Garden from a different perspective. Although animals move around the garden all the time, you might not notice them. In winter, from a human perspective, everything seems frozen and inactive,Continue reading “Winter Wildlife: Identifying Animal Tracks”

by C. Eliana Brown, RORG Director The Red Oak Rain Garden is designed to look good year-round. You should go visit it. But, even I — who loves being outside — can’t make myself go on those bone chilling cold, gray January days. What do you do then? Lately, I have noticed that the grayContinue reading “How to Thrive in Winter’s Gray Days”

By Layne Knoche, RORG Landscape Designer The garden was welcomed into 2021 with a beautiful blanket of snow, which helped to accentuate some of my favorite details of the landscape design. At a time of the year when some find it hard to find beauty in plant life, RORG’s native Illinois plants are showing offContinue reading “In the Garden: Early January”

by C. Eliana Brown, RORG Director As the year comes to a close, I want to take this time to thank the Red Oak Rain Garden’s Community of Supporters, who made it possible for us to install thousands of early-blooming plants giving us all something to look forward to come spring 2021. I’m also eagerlyContinue reading “Make a Difference with Year-End Giving”

By the RORG Team Against all odds, 2020 was a pivotal year for the Red Oak Rain Garden – complete with several pivots. Some might say hard-fought and they would not be wrong. Here are the RORG Team highlights of um, wow, quite a year. LATE WINTER The RORG Team started out 2020 by applyingContinue reading “RORG’s 2020 Year in Review”

By Layne Knoche, RORG Landscape Designer Early each December, my mom and I take on one of our favorite tasks of the year: putting up the Christmas tree. It sounds fairly simple, but I promise you, it’s anything but. While the tree isn’t the showiest or most extravagant, it’s steeped in traditions dating back toContinue reading “Holiday Decorations from the Eye of the Landscape Designer”

By the RORG Team Over the fall 2020 semester, Red Oak Rain Garden Team members Layne and Kate had the privilege of leading the first RORG Student Team. The students, from Instructor Eric Green‘s Environmental Studies (ENVS) 492: Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Capstone class, accomplished a wide variety of tasks over the four months theyContinue reading “RORG’s First Student Team: A Recap of the Fall 2020 Semester”

by Layne Knoche, RORG Landscape Designer, and Eliana Brown, RORG Director RORG’s design is based on the planting approach described in the book “Planting in a Post-Wild World” by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West. This approach includes the concept of designing with functional layers that form a complex yet organized landscape that reflects nature. RORG’sContinue reading “Planting in Layers: How to Design with Native Species”

By Lauren Lindow, RORG Student Team Member Before the construction of the Red Oak Rain Garden, the area had been poor-quality lawn existing on compacted soil and filled with weeds. These conditions are commonly found in the average suburban lawn. Since the conversion to native plants, the area has grown into a much more interestingContinue reading “Reimagining the Suburban Lawn: Opportunities for Growth”

By Layne Knoche, RORG Landscape Designer The cold, short days of December are upon us. However, on the occasional sunny day, there is still plenty to observe at the Red Oak Rain Garden at this time of the year. The Red Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) and female Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) shrubs are loaded with bright redContinue reading “In the Garden: Early December”