Community Invited to See Best-in-Show Garden at Glendale’s Main Library
The City of Glendale’s Water Services Department, Conservation and Sustainability Division, known for its award-winning programs, took home another honor. Glendale received top ranking in the 2014 Water Resources Research Center’s “Catch the Rain” photo contest and captured the Best-in-Show prize for a picture of the Glendale Rain Garden in action during a summer monsoon.
Hosted by the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center, the annual contest seeks photos telling the exceptional stories of Arizonan’s uncommon connection to and use of rain. Glendale Water Conservation Specialist, Joanne Toms, snapped the award-winning picture of the Glendale Rain Garden outside the Glendale Main Library during the Aug. 12 storm.
Glendale is one of three cities to install rainwater gardens featuring native Sonoran Desert plants through a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant. This past April more than 30 FedEx volunteers “dug in” at the Glendale Xeriscape Demonstration Garden to help
create a rainwater garden. The volunteers installed rainwater harvesting basins and planted 50 native plants. Watch video of the volunteers working in the Glendale Rain Garden. The 3,500 square foot garden is located near the north entrance of the Glendale Main Library. The Water Services Department coordinated the project in partnership with the Watershed Management Group.
The summer monsoon and a 12-second video brought community and media attention to the newly installed Glendale Rain Garden. A video of rainwater streaming down a series of basins to soak the plants and soil received more than 2,800 views.
The City of Glendale is one of fifteen Water – Use It Wisely partners to offer water-saving advice and programs.