Join us at the Center for Urban Horticulture to learn about rain gardens and Seattle’s RainWise program!

In selected areas of Seattle, the City of Seattle and King County will pay up to 100 percent of the cost of installing rain gardens and cisterns on homeowners’ properties through the RainWise program. Jessica Farmer, formerly our highly valued partner and manager of the UW Botanic Gardens ProHort program, is now the  Program Manager for RainWise. On Tuesday, August 15, she will talk about the RainWise program as one part of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) solutions that are being used to solve the Puget Sound’s stormwater problem. She will also discuss additional resources available for those who live outside RainWise-eligible neighborhoods.

Katherine (“Kat”) Shyi of Kat’s Rain Gardens and Cisterns will then provide pictures and details about one of her rain garden installations, describing the major issues to consider during a consultation, design, and installation. 

This evening will be a great opportunity to learn more about rain garden design and installation and understand how Seattle is aiming to encourage rain garden incorporation into appropriate landscapes.

Bring questions! Bring your friends!

Members and non-members are welcome, with pre-registration encouraged but not required.  There is a small fee for non-members, and we encourage non-members to register/pay in advance. We will also accept non-member payment at the event.

The evening will start with drinks, food, and time to socialize, with doors opening shortly after 6:30 p.m. We encourage you to bring commercially prepared food to share in a potluck.  We regret that the University no longer permits us to share home-prepared food, but we hope that we can still enjoy social mixing and food sharing for the evening. We will provide compostable plates, flatware, and napkins.

After our welcome and introductions at 7 pm, we plan to hold a short auction of garden-related tools, art, and/or plants. This auction helps cover the costs of hall rental. If you have items to donate toward this auction, please send relevant information to programs@plantamnesty.org.

PlantAmnesty will continue to encourage the use of masks when distancing is not feasible at indoor events, but masking and vaccination proof will not be required.

Speakers:

Jessica Farmer (she/her) is the RainWise Program Manager at Seattle Public Utilities. Prior to joining RainWise, Jessica supervised the adult education programs and communications at UW Botanic Gardens for ten years, partnering with PlantAmnesty on several classes and events. Her educational and career background has focused on urban forestry, public gardens, and equity and access to urban greenspaces. She’s a certified arborist and has served on Seattle’s Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners since 2015.

Katherine Shyi  is the owner of Kat’s Rain Gardens & Cisterns. Kat has been working with rain gardens and cisterns since 2016. Kat graduated from Antioch University and earned her bachelors degree in liberal arts. She then joined DIRT Corps to learn about green infrastructure. At DIRT Corps she learned how to build, design, and maintain rain gardens and cisterns. Kat became drawn to both these green systems because of the practicality, beauty, and ecological benefits. She also loves working with native plants in her projects. When she’s not working on cisterns and rain gardens, she works part-time at a local nursery called Go Natives!, tends to her container garden, likes to go out dancing, and of course… hanging out with her cats Bandit and Pancakes.