Rain Garden Workshop with SOAK Up the Rain NH

Join Monadnock Grows Together on Wednesday, October 12th from 1-3pm at Antioch University New England (40 Avon St. Keene, NH). Rain gardens can be a beautiful addition to your landscape while capturing the rain to help keep our rivers and lakes clean. Rain that runs off our roofs, patios and driveways can carry pollutants like sediment, fertilizers, pesticides, road salt and trash into nearby waterbodies making them unsafe and unhealthy. In this workshop, we will start inside with a presentation to learn how to build a beautiful rain garden, including identifying a good location, sizing a rain garden (bring your pencil and thinking cap!), choosing appropriate plants, and maintaining the garden. We will then tour rain gardens on the grounds at Antioch University and another nearby location (to be determined). Be prepared to participate in rain garden and invasive/non-native plant species identification!

Lisa Loosigian, Soak Up the Rain New Hampshire (SOAKNH) program coordinator, will present on rain gardens and other Do-It-Yourself Stormwater Solutions like rain barrels, dry wells, infiltration trenches. Lisa provides technical and educational services through presentations, workshops, events, trainings, and guest lectures. She works with lake and watershed groups across the state to form local SOAKNH groups, make recommendations and facilitate the installation of stormwater solutions at the residential level. After earning a Bachelor of Environmental Sciences degree in 2008 at the University of New Hampshire as a returning adult, Lisa has enjoyed working in the stormwater field at NHDES and in the private sector.