Discovering A Rain Garden At Lord Stirling Park: A 5th Grader’s Interview With Naturalist

By Anika Goel

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — I am Anika Goel, a fifth grader at Mount Prospect Elementary School in Basking Ridge.

This fall, my school announced a Bernards Township-sponsored poster contest with the theme “Rain Gardens.”

Before starting my poster, I wanted to understand exactly what a rain garden is, why it is important, and how one is built.

During my research, I discovered that the Environmental Education Center at Lord Stirling Park has a real rain garden on site. Curious to see one up close, I asked my parents to take me there so I could observe it in person.

During my visit, I also had the exciting opportunity to interview Mr. Rich Hoffman, a naturalist at the Center. He was very generous with his time and explained everything I wanted to know about rain
gardens. It was amazing to learn directly from someone who works with nature every day.

What I learned truly inspired me. Rain gardens are shallow depressions in the ground planted with vegetation that help soak up and collect rainwater runoff.

Even though the concept sounds simple, I was amazed at how many benefits they offer — they conserve water, reduce flooding, support wildlife, improve the environment, look beautiful, and are
relatively easy to build at home.

I hope that by sharing what I learned, more people in our community will consider creating rain gardens in their own yards and local parks. Even small steps like this can help make our town healthier and prettier!

Big shoutout to Mr. Hoffman and the rest of the awesome staff at the Environmental Education Center at Lord Stirling Park.

Below are excerpts from my interview with Mr. Hoffman, edited slightly for clarity.

Interview Excerpts

Interviewer (Anika): Hi, I'm Anika from Mount Prospect School, and I'm here to ask you a few questions about rain gardens.

Mr. Hoffman: And I'm Rich. I'm from the Environmental Education Center, part of Somerset County Parks. Hopefully, I can answer these questions.

Anika: First, what is a rain garden?

Mr. Hoffman: So, I think you have a couple of nice photos you were showing me [reference to comprehensive guide on rain gardens here]. Rain gardens are things you can put in the ground easily. They can be built close to a building where you get runoff water coming from the rooftop, and it's a way for plants to filter the water and reuse the water as it goes into the ground. They can be pretty, they can be good for nature, and they help keep everything, you know, clean.

Anika: Great. So, how does a rain garden help our community?

Mr. Hoffman: I think they're pretty, they help filter the water, and they're good for the animals.

Anika: Do you need to do anything to maintain them?

Mr. Hoffman: We kind of just let it grow. But every now and then, you might need to trim some of the plants. Sometimes you might even add a few different plants as things progress. Sometimes, certain plants do better than others, so you might want to add a particular plant, or maybe you want a different color of flowers. You can always make a few changes, just like any other garden, except this one is a little more dependent on the moisture from the rainwater.

Anika: So, how is a rain garden different from a traditional garden?

Mr. Hoffman: They’re similar as in they are both gardens. The difference is that rain gardens can absorb and take in a lot of extra water, as opposed to, say, vegetable gardens or pollinator gardens. It's a natural garden using native plants and can absorb extra water.

Anika: And how do rain gardens absorb all of their runoff rainwater?

Mr. Hoffman: They drink it. They're thirsty. They have plants that have evolved and adapted over time to do well in very wet conditions.

Anika: Thank you very much for your time and your insights.

Mr. Hoffman: You're welcome.