This summer WBTW and Carolina Clear are following the care of a stormwater pond in Carolina Forest. One of the ways to keep a stormwater pond healthy and attractive is called shorescaping.
A common problem with neighborhood stormwater ponds is shoreline erosion.
The Carolina Forest pond does not have a big erosion problem, but over time it could continue to move further back, washing away someone’s property.
The main cause of erosion is turf grass planted right up to the edge of the pond.
Terasa Lott with Clemson Extension says “What we really want are some plants that are better suited to life at the water’s edge. So turf grass has very shallow roots, it really is not happy living in saturated conditions. It doesn’t like to have wet feet. So it is not going to do much for holding that soil in place.”
The solution is simple – shorescaping. Planting a buffer zone of plants between the turf grass and the pond. In this case we rolled out a three foot wide carpet with plants already started.
Charleston Aquatics installed the wetland carpet product. Each carpet is 3 feet wide by 15 feet long and consists of selected plants that are already grown out. This product is the “easy way to shorescape” – just roll it out and stake it down and that is basically it. Much less labor intensive than individual planting.
This carpet included two different species. Further out into the water is Pickeral Weed which when that flowers will have a nice lavender color flower spike. And then behind it we have Hibiscus and that will have a beautiful, large, sort of dinner plate shaped size flower in a rosy, pink color.
These plants will quickly take root and are better adapted to the water’s edge than a lawn.
In addition to preventing erosion, this buffer zone also stops pollutants from getting into the pond, leading to cleaner water, a healthy landscape, and healthy pond.