[PCA] native plants for cities, stormwater management

[Center for Sustainable Resources]

I have worked with the process you speak of quite a bit at times. In fact I 
use natural vegetation to biofilter our aquaculture sites. Probably the 
easiest and most dependable plant you can use for this is the cattail. They 
are commonly used on mine sites now because they are so good at binding many 
substances. Bog plants in general are very good at this. as they burn up 
bicarbonates when the sun shines they collect metals in their root systems. 
Yellow Flag( japanesenaturalized) or blue flag native but not much different 
are also good. Some of the most problematic plants as far as growing over 
the entire waterway are the native ones. Stay away from anything viny. Lotus 
and lilly are good but need to be tamed now and then. If you are dealing 
with a sewage treatment system bullfrog tadpoles are good for controling 
bacteria but you need large numbers. Fred Hays

>From: Louisa Rogoff Thompson <louisathompson at erols.com>
>To: NativePlantseast <native-plants at lists.plantconservation.org>, 
>WorthleyBotany <WorthleyBotany at yahoogroups.com>
>Subject: [PCA] native plants for cities, stormwater management
>Date: Tue, 07 Dec 2004 11:53:47 -0500
>
>I'm looking for information about native plants adapted to various kinds of 
>stressful environments, particularly salt and heavy metals.  It's my firm 
>belief that plants can take care of soil and water better than facilities 
>made of concrete and other man-made materials.  And I prefer to use native 
>plants, because they are unlikely to turn out to be invasive, and because 
>they are more likely than exotics to form collaborative relationships with 
>soil organisms and above-ground wildlife.
>
>I'm currently working on a grad school project to design a landscape for a 
>vacant lot which will divert stormwater from the street into the lot to be 
>filtered and slowed down.   Most vacant lots previously had buildings on 
>them, which means they now have fill dirt, and infiltration facilities are 
>not permitted on fill.  So the water has to be returned to the storm drain 
>system, but some will evaporate and the rest will be returned slowly, 
>reducing the volume of fast-flowing water during the storm.
>
>The man at Baltimore's Dept. of Public Works who issues permits for this 
>kind of thing says a solution would be very valuable, and could be used on 
>many vacant lots throughout the city.  If I can get this to work, it could 
>have a very significant impact.  Did you know that much of Baltimore's 
>stormwater is piped directly into the Inner Harbor?  And it carries 
>cadmium, copper, chromium, lead, and other heavy metals, mostly from tires, 
>some from diesel exhaust, and some from old lead paint.  And road salt, in 
>winter.
>
>If you have seen plants either survive or be harmed by road salt, air 
>pollution (e.g. from bus exhaust at a bus stop), or heavy metals (e.g., 
>lead paint chips in the soil), I'd like to know about it.
>
>Also, if you know of published information please tell me.  I have Dirr's 
>Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, which has this kind of information for 
>many trees and shrubs.  Is there something comparable for herbaceous 
>plants?  I also have Md. Dept. of Environment's Stormwater Design Manual, 
>which has a long list of plants, indicating tolerance to salt and 
>pollution.  The only plant listed as tolerant to both is Eastern white 
>pine.  Most likely this is a list of known tolerance, i.e., no check mark 
>means no knowledge, not no tolerance.
>
>Your help will be much appreciated.
>
>Louisa Thompson
>Institute of Architecture and Planning
>Morgan State University
>Baltimore, MD
>
>
>
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