Rain gardens in downtown Lansing, Michigan

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Lansing is the capital of Michigan, and like Madison, it has a waterfront.  Lansing's state capitol building is located near where two rivers come together.

Lansing's waterfront on the Grand River.

Lansing has 55 new rain gardens located downtown (below), plus 170 conventional gardens.

In contrast, Madison has only 13 rain gardens located within a mile of our capitol grounds.


Lansing's rain gardens are located on the terrace.

They are large and deep, protected with iron railings, and have large openings to accept water from the street.



Maintaining rain gardens is a challenge, because you have to be able to identify which plants to pull as weeds.  Having the same people maintain the same garden solves this problem.

Lansing has an Adopt-a-Spot program, where businesses or individuals weed and remove litter from gardens they adopt.

Stay tuned for more information and photos of Lansing rain gardens.