A health clinic in southern Maine decided to add an additional parking area to support their
growing traffic needs as well as enhance pedestrian access across the facility. Acorn
recognized the opportunity to integrate green stormwater solutions to manage runoff from the
newly created impervious surfaces. The resulting design for a rain garden and swale provide
both functional and aesthetic appeal- infiltrating stormwater while creating a welcoming face to
the community.
Proposed plantings also satisfy the Town’s robust landscape ordinances. Garden beds
compliment and screen the parking area, while foundation plantings incorporating Fothergilla
and Aronia shrubs along with Carex grasses integrate with existing juniper. Ornamental
grasses, Rhus aromatica ‘Gro-Low’ and Aronia are proposed within the planted entry island,
while parking lot screening is provided by a mix of Myica pennsylvanica, Cornus, sericea, and
Amelanchier melanocarpa.
Proposed plantings are generally native, drought-tolerant, and low-maintenance species
adapted to the existing sandy soils throughout the site or the particular application in which
they are planted.
