The Coventry Gardens

Downspouts connected to rain garden
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To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds and watch the renewal of life,  -- this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do.
      From  My Summer in a Garden  by Charles Dudley Warner


There are many kinds of gardens. There are gardens planted to delight the senses with their perfume and colorful flowers and leaves. There are gardens that provide food. Some attract birds and insects, and bees reward us with their honey. Some attract butterflies and hummingbirds. And there are gardens designed to help protect the environment. These are called “Rain Gardens.”

West Creek Preservation Committee planted two Rain Gardens on their property on Coventry Drive in early October. A rain garden is a landscaped area planted with native perennial plants that grow in soil that retains some water. It is designed to capture and filter storm water runoff from impervious surfaces such as rooftops and driveways. The base of the garden is depressed to capture the rain water. This helps keep waterways cleaner by filtering storm water runoff before it reaches them. It helps alleviate some problems with flooding and drainage and the ground water is recharged by the action of the water “percolating” down through the soil.

The construction of the gardens on Coventry Drive used a method that connected the downspouts of each house alongside an adjacent lot directly through underground pipes to the center of each garden. The garden area was dug out not only to create a depression, but also to replace some of the soil and apply mulch. The gardens were planted with various native plants and shrubs. The homes bordering the gardens will qualify for a credit against their storm water fee.


A grant from General Motors in the amount of $5,000.00 and additional funds from the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District made this project possible. The City of Parma provided help with the removal of the driveway from this lot. Four volunteers from General Motors did the heavy work of moving soil and mulch. Students from Mr. Chris Mohnacky’s classes walked from Normandy High School and helped with the planting. Derek Schafer, the Conservation Project Manager of WCPC, directed the project.