Canna bed rain garden
The Canna Bed Rain Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne (RBG Melbourne) takes polluted stormwater run-off, filters it and uses it to irrigate the Cannas. The filtered water then drains into the Gardens’ lake system, improving the water quality of the lakes.
RBG Melbourne in conjunction with Melbourne Water, GHD (environmental engineers) and EcoDynamics (landscape construction) have installed a bioretention basin or rain garden in the Canna Bed.
The Canna Bed is in a naturally low-lying area on the Southern Lawn, which is the perfect site for a rain garden.
The Canna Bed Rain Garden takes stormwater run-off from Birdwood Ave and diverts it up into a garden bed – the Canna Bed – that has a sand filtration media incorporated into the soil profile. This irrigates the Cannas and strips pollutants out before the filtered water drains through agricultural pipes at the bottom of soil profile and is returned to existing drainage system at RBG Melbourne. This ultimately reduces pollutants entering Gardens’ lake system, the Yarra River and eventually Port Phillip Bay.
The Canna Bed was redesigned to incorporate the Rain Garden, but maintains the historic integrity of the bed with the exclusive use of Cannas.
Last updated 01 Jun 2010
