Gip-c Program: Our First Project
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We launched GIP-C in November 2024 and the first project that signed into the program is in South Orange, NJ. We are helping to revitalize the Rain Park located near the duck pond in the downtown area. I couldn’t be happier about this being the first project. I was involved in its creation back in 2017. I also oversaw the maintenance of it for about 2 years after it was completed. When the pandemic hit, my attention went to other things, and I had to say good-bye for a few years. But now, I’m back and we are already renovating the space.
How we work
The Rain Park was designed to be a bit of an alter-ego of the more common rain garden. Instead of digging into the ground, we created mounds that redirect stormwater and acts as a berm for water flowing along the grass. The site is made up of 3 mounds – 2 that are small and one that is more than 150 feet long. All of them have been planted with native-ish plants such as Pycnanthemum muticum and Echinacea pallida. But during the initial evaluation of the site, we found some issues.
copyright: chambersdesign
With any project that is coming into the program, I undertake an initial evaluation. The eval, as it’s called, is an opportunity to look at the green infrastructure with a critical eye. It’s less about pointing out what is going right and more about what is going wrong. Of the issues, I saw with the Rain Park the biggest is a nearly out-of-control infestation of Artemisia vulgaris more commonly known as mugwort. A. vulgaris is a highly aggressive invasive plant that can eliminate all other flora in an area when left unmanaged. On 2 of the mounds, the invasive has several packets of well-established groupings. If these populations are not addressed and eliminated, the entire mound will be covered by mugwort in less than 2 years. This was pointed out during the initial evaluation.
copyright: chambersdesign
After the Evaluation
After we completed the eval, I created a checklist of items for the Rain Park. It included Priorities to be tackled as quickly as possible, decisions that needed to be made for the Rain Park and Secondary actions based on the decisions made. For example, when a priority is to deal with the A. vulgaris on the longest mound first. A decision that must be made is, well, how do you want to deal with it. I recommended either sowing seed or covering the infected area with weed fabric. I’ve dealt with this weed with both methods in the past. If you plant seed, you must then commit to cutting the new growth for an entire year – keeping it no more than 12inches high from April through Oct. To do this, someone must cut the areas once a week every week. If you cover the areas with weed fabric, the amount of overall commitment drops. There’s no cutting required. Plus, you can install new plants through the fabric – and allow them to mature. I prefer this method. We build gardens like this all the time and it’s a very easy way get a fresh new patch of flowers and grasses without the huge headache of weeding or cutting every week. As the new plants grow and establish, we can remove the fabric. The decision was made to select 3 areas to cover with weed fabric, and that gave me a chance to get things moving. During the middle weeks of November, we cleared the first area of mugwort and stapled the fabric down. You can see the fabric in the image above. This will give us more time to address other parts of the Rain Park in the coming months.
Next Items on the “to-DO” List
I’m not sure yet what’s going to happen during the winter, but we are off to a good start. We have several efforts going to be ready for spring 2025. We will launch a fundraising campaign for the program soon. We have approached nearly a dozen other locations ran by different town and county departments, and there’s about a dozen more to contact.