rain garden poster field guide
Kill these words: Low Impact Development. You can say these words and actually feel the right side of your brain going to sleep the way your computer screen does.
I think you kill these words with art. Hire an artist to translate the 10,000 word BORING manual that no one opens for a single picture that helps translate and connect people to your passion for clean rain water.
John C. Pitcher's fine art illustrating a rain garden scene and over 20 natives that you can grow in Northwest gardens is perfect for teaching people. First, it is designed to stay on walls. We designed the art so it can hang on a nursery wall, in a discovery center, in a master gardener shed and teach anytime someone looks at it.
But my larger point is that low impact development is a phrase that kills off passion. Art goes to the heart of the problem. It says: here. This way. This is our future growing ecosystems that are porous, restoring green native plants and animal communities where pavement and storm drains have taken away perfectly good rain water.
Smarter design goes to a purpose. We want rain gardens to be ubiquitous-- and art to hang on 100,000 school room walls. Do you know what happened that surprised me? I have talked with co sponsors who helped design this artwork, and I have heard several people laugh about friends of theirs who have framed John C. Pitcher's art (see image above.) to hang in their bedroom.
How beautiful, intimate, and what a compliment.
Art that moves low impact development to low impact living.
best fishes,
Timothy
key words: storm water, native plants rain garden, rainwise, pervious pavement, interpretive poster, low impact development
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