A rain garden is a great way to beautify your yard and keep pollutants out of local streams. Learn how to create your own rain garden at one of two workshops hosted by the Chester-Ridley-Crum Watersheds Association this spring.

Media Borough and Nether Providence Township in Delaware County feature demonstration rain gardens at their municipal headquarters and will host the workshops, which will include indoor and outdoor presentations.

A rain garden is a depression planted with grasses, flowers, and shrubs that allows rainwater from hard surfaces to absorb into the ground instead of flowing into streams.

Rain gardens improve water quality in nearby streams and also serve as a beautiful alternative to lawns, enhancing curb appeal in residential neighborhoods. After large storms all of the water in a properly designed rain garden will absorb within 48 hours so they do not harbor mosquitoes.

Workshops will be held:

— May 3: 1-3 p.m. at Nether Providence Township Building, 214 Sykes Lane, Wallingford; and

— May 17: 2-4 p.m. at Media Borough Hall, 301 N. Jackson St., Media.

Funding for these workshops is provided by the League of Women Voters of PA Citizen Education Fund through a Section 319 Federal Clean Water Act grant from the Department of Environmental Protection, administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

To register for a free workshop, visit the CRC Watersheds Association website or call 610-359-1440. The first 25 families to register for each workshop will receive a free native plant to start their own rain garden.

4/20/2015