People really want to see what  a rain garden looks like. They want to stand next to one, or in one, and understand first-hand how one functions. Every rain garden is unique and site specific, so the more public gardens we have for people to see, the more people will understand how lovely they are and what a great benefit they can be.

For these reasons, Rain Gardens of West Michigan has installed demonstration rain gardens in the greater Grand Rapids area, and has partnered with others to feature rain gardens in other regions. These rain gardens are funded both by our project and by other organizations, individuals, local governments, and businesses, with the purpose of providing public sites that anyone can visit at any time and that will help promote the use of rain gardens in West Michigan. Take a look at the list. There may be a rain garden near you!

Current demonstration rain garden locations:

1. River of Stars rain garden, 660 Market Ave., Grand Rapids.
2. Stained Glass Window rain garden, Fountain St. NE at Library Plaza NE, Grand Rapids Community College, Grand Rapids. This rain garden needs a Master Gardener.
3. New Branches Elementary rain garden, 256 Alger Street SE, Grand Rapids. This rain garden needs a Master Gardener.
4. Cannon Township Offices rain garden and native landscaping demonstration;  6878 Belding Road NE, Rockford. Contractor: Nativescape, Chris Lehr. This lucky site has many dedicated gardening volunteers.
5. Axtell Creek rain garden, Kalamazoo. This garden is part of a 319 project on the Kalamazoo River. The rain garden was put in by the Kalamazoo Nature Center, one of our project partners.
6. Burton Forest rain gardens, Kentwood.  Lee Kitson Homes contructed a Green-Built residence for the Spring Parade of Homes, 2004. The home features preservation of existing forest ecosystems around the residence, and three rain gardens to help handle stormwater on the site. Tour by appointment only.
7. Blandford Nature Center rain garden, 1715 Hillburn Ave. NW, Grand Rapids. This rain garden features plants from our nursery and a rain barrel donated by Spruce Creek RainSavers. This lucky rain garden has a Master Gardener.
8. Marywood rain garden and prairie, Dominican Center, Aquinata Hall, 153 Lakeside Drive NE, Grand Rapids. An ugly parking lot detention pond becomes a beautiful rain garden and native prairie planting! This rain garden needs a Master Gardener or Master Naturalist.
9. Fuller Park wetland rain garden, Fuller at Lyon, Grand Rapids. A wet area fed by springs has been restored to native vegetation, including skunk cabbage and wet-loving trees. This rain garden needs a Master Gardener.
10. Carpenter Street rain garden, 568 Carpenter NW at Michigan, Grand Rapids. An existing storm drain was re-engineered by the City of Grand Rapids, and the rain garden planted by Rain Gardens of West Michigan and the homeowner.
11. Wittenbach Agriscience and Environmental Center, 11715 Vergennes, Lowell, Michigan. This Great Lakes Prairie rain garden absorbs stormwater runoff from the parking lot in front of the main building. The garden was designed and created by Lowell High School students with the guidance of the Michigan Groundwater Stewardship Program.
12. West Michigan Academy of Environmental Science, 4463 Leonard S.W., Walker. This charter school features a large planted prairie and a rain garden next to the parking lot, around a lawn drain.
13. Health Intervention Services, 15 Andre S.E., Grand Rapids (south of Burton off Division). This rain garden was planted by Calvin College Street Fest student volunteers in August, 2004. A small rain garden was added in the front and the existing landscaping was enhanced by native plants and daylilies.
14. Ottawa Hills High School, 2055 Rosewood S.E., Grand Rapids (one block west of Burton and Plymouth intesection). The School of Business, Leadership and Entrepreneurship just put in a lovely rain garden sign. The rain garden, created in the fall of 2004, is 85 feet long and 25 feet wide! It includes both native species and traditional landscaping plants, donated by Rooks Landscaping and local garden clubs. This rain garden needs a Master Gardener or Master Naturalist.
15. Grand Rapids Community College, on the pedestrian mall in front of the Main building. This rain garden is the second for GRCC and is planted by the Fountain Street entrance to the parking ramp. This rain garden was created by the Service Learning Center Advisory Board, a student group that also does a lot of other great work in the community.
16. C.A. Frost Elementary School, 1460 Laughlin Drive NW, Grand Rapids. Two rain gardens are constructed in a stormwater swale. This is the start of what is planned to be a river of prairie plants leading from the parking lot. Blandford Nature Center is working with Frost to create wildlife habitat on the school grounds, and this stormwater treatment will be part of that habitat. These lucky rain gardens have a Master Gardener.
17. Ralph and Grace Hauenstein Home, Guardian Angel Homes, 2706 Burton, Grand Rapids. JF New is working on this project, so you know it is going to be beautiful. This home for disabled adult men has three filtration rain gardens. The landscape was designed by Martha Tyson, author of The Healing Garden, and intended to be a place where the residents can interact with plants and wildlife. These rain gardens need Master Naturalists.
18. Center of the Universe, 1007 Lake Drive SE, Grand Rapids. The rain garden is behind the building, and features a gorgeous rain garden co-designed by Bazzani and Associates, Rooks Landscaping, and the City of Grand Rapids. This brownfield site has been transformed into a lovely, LEED-certified office building with a green roof (rain gardens on the roof!). This development was a recipient of one of Governor Granholm's Cool Cities grants. By the way, this is the location of our new offices!
19. East Leonard Elementary School, 410 Barnett NE, Grand Rapids. The Grand Rapids Community College Service Learning Center and East Leonard Elementary partnered with us to create this beautiful native plant garden in the front of the school. This rain garden needs a Master Gardener.
20. Home Repair Services, 1100 S. Division, Grand Rapids. The "Terata" Rain Garden was created  by Calvin College Street Fest students in August of 2005. This rain garden is designed to increase the stormwater handling capacity of swales off the parking lot. We hope it will promote the use of rain gardens by the customers of Home Repair Services, a non-profit organization that helps city homeowners improve their properties. This rain garden has a Master Gardener.
21. Gilda's Club, 1806 Bridge Street NW, Grand Rapids. Spring of 2006, we began planting a rain garden in the detention pond by the entry driveway to Gilda's Club. Students from Grand Valley State University began the process in 2005 by removing half the weedy vegetation. Students from Calvin College removed the rest, and helped us start planting. This lucky rain garden has a Master Gardener.
22. Turner Gateway Project, Turner street underneath the 131/196 overpass. The project kickoff is May 19, 2006 and we expect to start work in 2007. These rain gardens will need Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists. Call us! 451-3051.
23. Sylvan Learning Center, 3910 Burton Street, Grand Rapids (just west of East Paris). This site was redesigned to manage stormwater on site during the construction of an addition and new parking lot. A large swale rain garden in the front manages stormwater from the roof, while a detention rain garden in the back soaks up all the runoff from the parking lot. The native plants are beautiful!
24. Hispanic Center of West Michigan, 1204 West Grandville Avenue SW, Grand Rapids. Rain gardens surround the building of the beautiful new Hispanic Center, managing water from the roof and parking lot.
25. Fair Housing Center of Greater Grand Rapids, 20 Hall Street SE, Grand Rapids (just east of Division). Beautiful rain gardens planted with native plants and with traditional non-native perennials filter stormwater from the parking lot of the new facility.

Other rain gardens are in the works!

Interested in being a demonstration site?

A demonstration project has the following qualities: 

• Available for the public to visit    
• Design layout and plant list publicly available through our program   
• Strategy, cost, and development information publicly available     
• Pre-construction, during construction, and post-construction images available for use on our site and in our educational materials 
• Annual estimated volume of water entering the rain garden calculated

Please contact our office for more information if you would like to install a rain garden on your property as a  Rain Gardens of West Michigan demonstration site. We welcome businesses, schools, developers, homeowners, churches, colleges and universities to work with us.