Rain Gardens In St. Catharines
Tell us what you think!
Small gardens. Big questions about how we manage rain. The Landscape Hydrology and Restoration Group is studying how rain gardens can help manage stormwater in urban areas — and we want to know what our community thinks.
We are asking residents to complete a short community survey to help us understand awareness of rain gardens and interest in using them at home.
It takes about 1 minute to complete.
We do not ask for your name, email address, or street address. Responses will be summarized to help evaluate our community outreach and guide future rain garden education and resources.
Our Downtown Rain Garden Project
In 2026, the Landscape Hydrology and Restoration Group and our community partners established rain gardens in downtown St. Catharines to study how small-scale green infrastructure performs in an urban environment.
Our research is examining how rain gardens affect stormwater runoff, soil infiltration, and water quality, while also exploring how projects like these can contribute to climate-resilient stormwater management.
The project also asks an important community question: {{{}}}}}
Understanding how residents perceive rain gardens — including whether people would consider installing one themselves — is one part of answering that question.
Visit the Gardens
You can see the project in action at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre and Silver Spire United Church in downtown St. Catharines.
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre: https://maps.app.goo.gl/KCN8mBDa6LCoNVX38
Silver Spire Church: https://maps.app.goo.gl/WUuUqvs5oYeKkwWh6
Project Partners, Funders & Supporters
Brock University
Landscape Hydrology and Restoration Group Volunteers
TD Friends of the Environment
Niagara Community Foundation
City of St. Catharines
Walker Industries
FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
Silver Spire Church
Off Campus Niagara
Niagara Artists' Centre
St. Catharines Downtown Association
Brock Facilities Management
Brock Machine Shop
Meridian Centre
Green Herons
1st St. Catharines Girl Guides
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
Niagara College Environmental Labs
Niagara College Greenhouse
Potential
The community-created artwork at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre is called Potential.
Created collaboratively by the Landscape Hydrology and Restoration Group and the Green Herons, the piece reflects on the tension between opportunity and unintended consequences, and the responsibility we take on when we choose to steward something with potential.
Rain gardens are an example of that tension. Changing the way water moves through an urban landscape can create opportunities to reduce runoff, support plants and habitat, and rethink spaces that might otherwise be overlooked. But interventions also require care. What we plant, how we build, how we maintain these spaces, and how they interact with the surrounding environment all matter.
Potential asks us to consider not only what a place could become, but what responsibility comes with helping shape that future.
The artwork was created as part of the downtown rain garden project to invite people into that conversation. The project combines research, community participation, and public space to explore what small-scale environmental action can contribute to a more resilient city.
Follow the Research
This project will continue to monitor rain garden performance and share what we learn about urban stormwater management, soil, water quality and community adoption.
Check back for project updates, research findings, and resources for people interested in rain gardens in Niagara.