Heritage Garden Club members recently toured the gardens and historic home of Alecia and Gordon Johnson of Prospect.

The 1875 Victorian style home was lovingly dismantled, rebuilt and restored by the couple from 2001-2006. The couple also installed extensive landscaping and several outbuildings typical of the era. Alecia provided a presentation about a ‘rain garden’ landscaping feature that helps control water runoff on the property.

A rain garden is a shallow depression that collects water that runs off roofs, driveways and other surfaces and slowly releases the water back into the ground. Other benefits include recharging groundwater and reducing erosion in downstream channels.

Plantings in the rain garden included buttonbush, blueberries, sweetshrub, purple coneflower, sedum, black-eye Susan, iris and other perennials. The rain garden was installed with assistance from the Piedmont Soil and Water Conservation District. Alecia also provided a short presentation about industrial hemp and its uses and benefits.