Hui Has Homeowners How-to Guide For Home Rain Gardens

A local conservation group has published a handy, detailed manual on how to make a home rain garden, and its author will share all the facts at 6:30 Thursday night at Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve.

The free lecture in the park theater features Todd Cullison, executive director of Hui o Ko’olaupoko, and his talk is titled “Making the Most of our Rain: Water Catchment and Rain Gardens for Residents.” (For more information on the lecture program, call 397-5840.)

The manual lays out a step-by-step solution for homeowners who want to capture and infiltrate storm water from their property.

Good examples of rain gardens can be found at Heeia State Park in Kaneohe and at Popoia Street, along the Kaelepulu canal next to Buzz’s Steak House in Lanikai. Both functioning projects were executed by Hui o Ko’olaupoko volunteers in the past two of years to demonstrate the technique of placing plants and rocks strategically in flat-bottomed depressions so they can act as a filter for pollutants. Students at HPU’s Kaneohe campus also built a rain garden recently next to the Nursing Annex.

The public may download the manual at huihawaii.org, or purchase a hard copy for $20. For more information and to find out about the rain garden co-op program, call Cullison at 277-5611. The office is located at 1051 Keolu Drive #208, near The Shack.