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The Rosa Keller Library in New Orleans’ Broadmoor neighborhood was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but today it’s not only a busy local landmark but also a hard-working stormwater management garden. NPI schedules work days in the garden several times each year; check the calendar to volunteer for weeding, cutting back, and seed collection projects.
Part of the New Orleans Public Library system, Rosa F. Keller Library at 4300 South Broad Street in New Orleans was a Broadmoor neighborhood landmark for years—and then Hurricane Katrina hit. The 2005 storm’s floodwaters devastated the area, one of the lowest points in New Orleans. But landscape architect Jane Satterlee had a prairie vision, and the gardens she designed in the bioswales around the library and its new community center are now a living example of effective stormwater management using native plants.
As described by World Architects: “The project employs numerous sustainable measures, particularly with regard to stormwater management. The most noticeable element is the creation of a large bioswale, reducing stormwater runoff by 58% and serving as both landscape feature and educational component addressing the larger issue of water management in the region.
Rainwater spirals down the slope of the new library wing to a single point, where it is celebrated in a catchment feature at the building entry. From there it is channeled along the entry ramp and joins water from the restored historic wing into a landscaped detention area where it percolates slowly back into the soil. A similar strategy softens the flows from the existing concrete parking area.”
To keep the native prairie planting healthy and within city guidelines for property management, Jane asked for help from NPI and the Master Gardeners of Greater New Orleans; the New Orleans Department of Parks and Parkways assists by weeding and by leaving selected areas unmowed. The plants do their part by slowing the movement of water from heavy rains and by pulling water up into their systems, producing beautiful blooms which in turn provide food and habitat for local pollinators.
Native species in the garden include Louisiana iris (Iris species), seaside goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens), baldcypress trees (Taxodium distichum), cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), lyreleaf sage (Salvia lyrata), Gulf Coast penstemon (Penstemon tenuis), bluestem grasses, blanketflower or Indian blanket (Gaillardia species), muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris), winecup (Callirhoe species), ironweed (Vernonia species), and several species of coneflower (Echinacea species, Rudbeckia species, and Ratibida species) and coreopsis (Coreopsis species).