Rain Garden Invasives Clean-Up at Webster University

May, 2026
by Laura Madden, class of Fall 2024

Reciprocity is an enduring value in our co-existence - both in community and in Nature.

Webster University is a community partner with our Master Naturalist Chapter, gifting us meeting space and amazing virtual technology to allow us to meet every month to learn and organize our conservation work. In exchange, our Chapter has stepped forward to put reciprocity in practice as volunteers to help organize and join the University's efforts to improve and maintain two rain gardens and various pollinator and native plant gardens on the campus. I was really surprised at how hard they worked to create these spaces and happy to be able to learn and help. This was our first outing on what is to become a Chapter-Sponsored Project that we hope will include many more of our chapter members. Hopefully we can find ways to engage with students as well!

Rain Garden 2013

As with most invasive management projects, it is always a surprise and pleasure to "step in" to the nature space and begin to remove the invasive specials to find the native species waiting within - patient and present. As we worked, using our Picture This or INaturalist app, to determine what is "good" and what is "bad" for the ecosystem, it was fun and educational to see how weeds and invasive species mimic the native plants, and, in many cases, offer similar beneficial contributions as food or habitat that might serve to override your desire to remove them entirely from the garden. Working side by side with fellow MMNs and university science staff offered great back and forth in this decision process. It just provides just a respect and admiration for the diversity Nature offers as a lesson for all that we do and all that we are.

We were pleased to see the end result, with well pruned trees and hedges by the power tool guys and a removal of mounds of invasives. We left some of the "bad/good" plants to see how they adapt (or take over) by our next visit. It is always a good feeling to survey the garden after a good spring cleaning and that is definitely the outcome from this simple two hour workday. You can do a lot in two hours with 7 MMNs!

Rain Garden 2026