Floating Wetland Finds a Home at Lewis Ginter
by Jonah Holland, PR & Marketing Coordinator, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
Photos by Garden Volunteer Jeannie Waltman & Jonah Holland
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden volunteers Sherry Giese and Daune Poklis work together to divide plants & push them into holes in the island.
A crew of Garden volunteers and staff from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation planted and installed a ‘floating wetland’ right here in Lake Sydnor at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden this week. The floating garden is believed to be the first in Richmond, and it will help improve water quality in the lake, absorbing and removing nutrients from the Chesapeake Bay watershed. CBF’s Upham Brook Watershed Restoration Project is made possible by a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund using funds generated by the sale of the Chesapeake Bay license plates in Virginia. Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is thrilled to be a partner. We’ll be sure to keep you posted on the improvements we see in the water quality. A second floating island will be installed in a pond at the Belmont Golf Course.
Aimee Bushman, educator, for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation explains, “Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint to restore the Bay and its tributaries calls upon all of us to do our part to reduce pollution. The floating wetland is a great example of how non-profits, government, businesses, and citizens can work together and make progress. The wetland will reduce pollution in the Upham Brook and Bay watersheds, provide food and habitat for wildlife, and do so in a natural, aesthetically beautiful, and cost-effective way. Everyone wins.”
Be sure to scroll through the photos to see how we did it!
Garden staff and volunteers await delivery of the island. Pictured are Volunteers Sherry Giese & Ralph Ashton (right), Irrigation Tech John Niemczyk (center), Volunteer Buz Sawyer, and Gardener Patrick O’Hagan.
Teamwork (and a little push) can move the earth. On the left in the foreground is Director of Horticulture, Grace Chapman.
Carrying the island.
Easy does it!
The island
Volunteers & visitors watching the installation. The cinder blocks were dropped in the water as anchors.
Heavy blocks going down as anchors.
Done!
Curious about the plant list and design of the island? Here’s the floating wetland sketch (above) by Grace Chapman, Director of Horticulture, and her plant list (below).
