Bioswale
Menomonee Falls, WI

The previous site was a steep ditch experiencing significant erosion from stormwater with a hedge of invasive buckthorn beneath a canopy of maples and pines.

The buckthorn was removed in summer and planting began that autumn and continued over the next three years. A grant from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District provided native plants at a discount for the bioswale.

The planting was designed to prevent further erosion and slow the stormwater, allowing it to soak in. The planting provides a variety of habitat for wildlife from a dense ground layer, diverse mid-story shrub layer and a new succession of future canopy trees.  

Fruit bearing shrubs help support an abundance of birds throughout the long winter season.