2024 Iowa Water Conference

More pictures from the 2024 Iowa Water Conference -

Welcome! on the big screen & one of several 'Ding' Darling cartoons on display

Topsoil - sadly our biggest export 

Nitrogen, nitrates and health

ISWEP Urban Stormwater and Watershed Protection Private Organization of the Year

Above photo courtesy of the Nevada FFA's Kevin Cooper, 

winner of Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance's Individual Impact Award

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Thank you to the Iowa Storm Water Education Partnership and the other great organizations working to conserve our water and other natural resources!

And thank you to all of our great customers for letting us create your beautiful and functional landscapes!

Drake's Harkin Institute

This project was one of several projects that came after we relocated the Sprout Garden and installed the Drake Food Forest.  The Tom and Ruth Harkin Center was initially designed and built to bring an innovative mixture of accessibility and sustainability to the campus experience.  It serves a place for, despite the name, non-partisan research and outreach around policy issues important to Senator Harkin.

Asters blooming as the planting was finished

The stormwater design was functional but never really blossomed.  So, in the summer of 2021, Kelly Norris was commissioned for reimagining the space and what it could be.  Abundant Design was contacted shortly thereafter to collaborate on the installation to bring the first 2000sf renovation to life.

Kelly Norris and Jeff Reiland

Step one was to remove the existing prairie dropseed and white blooming echinacea to prepare the area prior to new plant delivery.  Some of these were relocated to the Sprout rain garden/contour swales.

After the plants were laid out it was time to get planting! #thatsalotofplants

This late in the year my seasonal help had all gone back to school... but my auger in combination with the amended soil helped!  #justkeepplanting

The high planting density will ensure faster establishment and easier maintenance

This new plant selection with ~30 different species and varieties will provide spectacular color, diversity and full season interest for staff, students and visitors.  

A sleeping Monarch... better get a move on!

Once everything was planted, we used our tripod sprinkler setup to keep it watered for the first couple weeks even though it was getting quite cold some of the nights.

This planting was even highlighted in this article 

Greater Des Moines Eco-Friendly Gardens (dsmpartnership.com)

Here is a photo from July of the following year

It was really hitting it stride this summer!

"The Ruth Harkin Garden at The Harkin Institute on Drake University's campus, a living model for how bioswales can look and function in the urban landscape. I'm proud of this #planting we did in 2021, the first of two phases of this project, completed in 2022. 

We can partner with plant life for a more verdant, diverse, and complex ecosystem within the envelope of human activities. Living infrastructure can only fulfill its promise when plants are in the lead. While the concept gets a lot of air time these days, the results often lack vibrant vegetation. We hope this project serves as an example for why initial plant diversity and density matters."  Kelly Norris

Watch for the Phase 2 update!

Fall is for Trees!

As summer winds down and school starts back up for many, it may feel like the party is over... but with cooler temperatures comes a beautiful time of year, full of warm colors, falling leaves and favorite sporting events.

Fall is also a GREAT time to plant trees!  Planting in the Fall can set your new trees and shrubs up for long term success, with less stress than summer and beneficial root growth for a head start next season.

Cooler autumn temperatures help reduce transplant stress and moisture loss.  As long as the soil temperature is above 50°F the roots of the tree are still growing.  This extra time, typically into mid-November in Iowa, enables roots to get some extra growth before going fully dormant.

Soil Temperature & Garden Plants 

Autumn's arrival might even bring more rain than the hot and dry weather we've had lately and typical of late summer.  Combine this with the cooler temperatures and your trees might not use as much water as they would during the spring growth spurt and summer heat.  Even during the fall your newly planted tree will still require watering, however, especially to hydrate the subsoil well going into winter. 

"The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, and the next best time is now!"

One thing to consider is that these recommendations are for potted or container trees.  We don't plant dormant bare-root material in the fall in our climate.  They are hard to keep from drying out and winter will almost certainly kill a bare-root tree planted too late in fall in the North.  Early spring is a much better time to plant bare root trees!

When winter arrives your care activities can "chill out" for a few months, but...  

You'll want to keep young trees protected from deer and rabbits (more on that here)

Ask an Arborist: Why Should I Plant in the Fall? (youtube.com)

You might be wondering "How do I plant a tree well?"  Here is a quick overview of how we plant our trees-

Step 1 - Dig hole to a depth of 2" less than the rootball height and twice as wide.  You want the root crown just above the surrounding soil.

Step 2 - Remove the container and break up/cut any pot bound/circling roots, place in hole, and backfill about halfway.  Make sure tree is straight and plum.

Step 3 - Deeply water around the tree letting the water settle the soil. Finish backfilling and watering.

Step 4 - If needed tie up tree for stability.  Two T-posts at the North and South sides, driven outside of the excavated area, are usually enough.  Tie using wide straps with enough tension to allow flexing to strengthen trunks, but not so loose to tip or lean in strong winds.

Step 5 - Mulch in a ring 4'- 6' in diameter, 3-4” deep with hardwood mulch.  Leave several inches between the mulch and trunk to prevent fungal infection.  

Avoid the mulch volcano... instead go for a mulch donut!

Over the next few weeks and months observe and water as necessary until the tree is fully established. 

Water daily for 1-2 weeks; then 2-3 days for 3-12 weeks; then weekly until established

Apply 1-1.5 gallons per inch of caliper (trunk diameter) at each watering

If the ground does happen to thaw in winter, it would be a good idea to try and see if you can get some water to your young tree.  Winter's drying winds can evaporate moisture from the soil, especially if we don't have a protective blanket of snow.

A smaller tree will take nearly a full growing season to become fully established.  A 2" tree may require two years to become fully established on its own while a 3" tree may need three years. The larger the tree, the bigger the shock so continue to be diligent and observant even long after the initial planting and water accordingly.

"A society grows great when old men plant trees under whose shade they know they’ll never sit."

Need help planning and planting this fall?  Abundant Design offers Consultation, Design, Installation, and Stewardship services.  The fall offers a great opportunity to plant, and it’s also a great time to start planning and designing for next season.  We can help!

Easter Lake Rain Campaign Video

Here's a fun video we helped make with the Rain Campaign to showcase rain gardens as a Stormwater Best Management Practice.  Their videos help encourage homeowners to consider rain gardens and other best management practices to help with stormwater runoff mitigation and to help them with potential problems in their own yards - erosion, soggy areas, etc.

We had already been working with the homeowners in conjunction with the Easter Lake Watershed coordinator to help them with their yard issues and reduce the storm surge into the lake.  The following pictures show the flooding and poor drainage they were dealing with in their yard.  You can also see Easter Lake behind the trees and shrubs.

Their pipe was a short-term fix, and definitely not their favorite.

Watch the video here, with project photos following.

Rain Gardens (youtube.com)

The laser level helps us get the grading just right

Berms constructed, amended soil blend added

Mulching the fresh planting helps retain soil moisture and will feed the soil as it breaks down.  The basins are mulched lightly to prevent smothering of young plants when the basin fills and empties.

 

After photos of the dry stream which collects and moves rainwater from the downspouts to the basin.

The basin captures and infiltrates the first 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" of any rain event.  90% of historical rains for our area are under this amount. If we get more rain than that, the excess will be slowed and filtered through the native plants, and slowly go over the armored overflow.

Rain Garden - After

This picture is from the second year, and you can see the plant growth, adaptation and personal touches.  We designed the planting to be shade tolerant initially, yet take advantage of the future sunshine too - the park was planning restoration of the native savannah surrounding the lake.  Lots fewer, but quality tree species.

This year (year 3) we were doing another project nearby and were invited to come check it out.  After 2 years you can see continued adaptation and growth (although earlier in the season), and we happened to catch it filled with rain.

Stay tuned for more videos!

Back-to-Back Edible Rain Garden Installs

Earlier this season we had been joking that even though we were busy, we hadn't done a single rain garden installation yet.  We had done some revamping of a couple older ones, an edible landscape for a commercial project, several large native plantings and a homestead orchard.

Little did we know that we would do two back-to-back rain garden installs, that also wanted to include as many food producing plants as possible!

This first project in Clive was the first to use their newly retooled cost share program (link).

The other was in Des Moines, and after a little time to think it through, they decided to go for it!

More details on these projects are coming up, but I was excited to share the combination of stormwater, natives and edible plants and trees!

Sod ...but it's Prairie!

Earlier this year the Polk County Water Resources team asked us to help with a special project.  They were hoping to try a new prairie sod product they had learned about by webinar.  There was a small drainage easement near Ankeny that was a likely candidate for this project, and the neighboring homeowners had been fighting weeds and water issues for several years while trying to maintain the space.

Before - First Look
Messy drainage easement from the outlet

Many suburban developments have a drainage easement that runs along the back property edges.  A lot of homeowners can have issues with poor turf grass quality and drainage issues in these areas, especially if the grading is variable at installation or settling over time.  These issues usually get worse as you get closer to the end.

With steady Spring rains delaying cutting, a communication mix-up and surprise shipping date, the schedule was in a bit of a kerfuffle, but we rearranged our plate and things turned out ok.  Pfew!

The existing sod was cut and removed, using it to patch in some rougher spots along the neighboring lot.  Looking at these pictures is a reminder of how much turfgrass there was.  

Those rolls were heavy too!

Pallets of the new sod arrive at the job site.  The plants were well rooted into the mat material.  Even though it seemed shallow, there were many species (guessing the deeper-rooted ones) were seedlings mixed in with the taller grasses, sedges and quick growing black-eyed susans.  Our little dump trailer has moved a lot of material over the years!

Native Prairie Sod, delivered and untarped

The Prairie Sod was installed and pinned, with extra pins and rock armor near the storm drain outlet.  We also rearranged the boulders to make mowing easier for the homeowner around the outlet.

Native Prairie Sod

And why would it not rain during the installation?  Rain days hit us hard when our projects are typically right in "the line of fire", or flooding in our case.

Eventually it dried out enough for work to continue!  Time to rearrange the boulders...

This, along with the sod laid at the Public Works facility, will be a good test case for the water resource team to assess feasibility of using native sod in stormwater projects.  It provides instant coverage, many good-sized plants from day one, a few early bloomers in flower, with others soon to follow.  It has lots of water flow down and across the site, typical clay soil and full sun.

After - Prairie Sod

I could see us using this for similar products in the future as it seems like a great solution for large projects, new construction and commercial parking or neighborhood detention basins.  I also imagine, at least on some of our projects, we might design an intentional planting of selected natives as a border and to lead the eye into the "wilder" look of prairie sod like this.

After - Overlooking the easement from above the stormwater outlet

Ticks! ...and Invasive Barberry

 We design and install edible landscapes, we are NOT edible landscapers...

...someone needs to inform the ticks and mosquitoes!

A recent article I read mentioned that some invasive species of plants can increase populations of ticks!  It turns out, the dense, thorny Japanese Barberry shrub is actually great habitat for ticks.

How an invasive plant is helping ticks survive

“Barberry thickets actually make a pretty good habitat, not just for ticks but for some of their host species,” said Susan Elias, a research associate at the Lyme and Vector-Borne Disease Laboratory at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute in Scarborough. “You’re creating a perfect storm, when you have these non-native species coming into the landscape.”

One of our last job sites had a TON of ticks (quite a few have this year), and we removed several barberry shrubs in addition to the retaining walls and prairie bed install.  I don't know that the ticks were living here with the abundance of other habitat nearby, but it will keep these bushes from reseeding (with help from birds) throughout their acreage and other natural spaces. 

Invasive Barberry, ouch!

Invasive species can cause lots of issues in our natural areas.  

More on Invasive Species

Before planting anything new, check to see if it is invasive (not to be confused with an aggressive native) and if you need assistance with invasive species removal we can help!

If you'd like to hear more about TICKS from a local perspective, check out The Prairie Farm Podcast — The Prairie Farm episode #158

Stay Safe and Get Outside!