A rain garden is a planted depression that allows rainwater runoff from areas like roofs, driveways, walkways and parking lots to be absorbed. Rain gardens reduce rain runoff by allowing stormwater to soak into the ground. This helps control erosion, water pollution, and flooding.

Stormwater runoff from Hillendale's roof and parking areas is directed into four centrally located Biodetention Basins that are connected together. Biodetention Basins are designed to collect stormwater runoff and slowly release it at a controlled rate so that downstream areas are not flooded or eroded. Biobasins are heavily planted with a diverse array of native plants that will support a wide variety of local pollinators and other animals.

Spillways divert water from one Biodetention Basin to the other creating a meandering stream effect. These Biodetention Basins usually empty within 6-12 hours after a storm. Biodetention Basins are landscaped with native plants that have large root systems and are resistant to the stress from both brief periods of pooling as well as dry periods between rainfall events. Biodetention Basins reduce erosion, filter pollutants, control flooding and provide biodiversity.

The water leaves the final biodetention basin through a cement headwall that was part of the original Hillendale Stormwater System. The stormwater runoff drains through an 18" pipe and travels underground for over one hundred yards toward the Extended Detention Dry Basin.

This large extended detention dry basin is located at the lower end of the Hillendale property and is designed to collect the outflow from the four centrally located biodetention basins. This significantly larger extended detention dry basin can limit downstream erosion and control some pollutants such as suspended solids. Extended detention dry basins improve on the basic detention design by lengthening the storage time of runoff for up to 24 to 48 hours. This large detention basin is necessary to slow down runoff that our rain gardens and biodetention basins could not handle.

In the foreground of the photo (bottom right corner), you can see the Outflow Control Structure of the extended dry detention basin. The outflow control structure has a three inch hole near the bottom to allow for SLOW drainage of the collected water.

During an average rainstorm at Hillendale, our property can create well over a hundred thousand gallons of stormwater runoff. A major storm event could produce upwards of a half a MILLION gallons!

The Outflow Control Structure is designed with a pyramidal open grate on the top. Should Hillendale ever have an extreme rain event such as a hurricane, the pyramidal open grate would allow for extreme runoff overflow to pass into the top of the outflow control structure and travel down to the the final outflow basin area.

This is the end of the line for Hillendale's Stormwater Management System. After a storm, water from the Extended Detention Basin is slowly released and drains into the Outflow Control Structure through a three inch opening.

Drainage water from the Extended Detention Basin reaches the final outflow and is dispersed through a rocky substrate. The water travels down a long hill planted with a special seed mixture and willow shrubs.

Upon completion of its journey down the hill any remaining stormwater enters into the Craigs Mill Run stream, a tributary of the Brandywine Creek.

American Basswood

American Basswood is a favorite tree of bees as they extract nectar from its flowers, making a very high-quality honey in the process. When a tree is in full bloom, bees often visit in such abundant numbers that humming can be heard many feet from the tree.

The inner bark of Basswood is very tough, and the Native Americans cut it into thin strips and used it for rope, mats, and even bandages.

Basswood grows very upright and when found in the open, it may reach 80 feet tall by 40 feet wide.

Wildlife value:
It is a larval plant for Red-spotted Purple and Mourning Cloak butterflies as well as 150 species of caterpillars in North America. The seeds are eaten by squirrels and chipmunks and other small mammals.

The margin (outer edge) of the leaf is serrated. A serrated margin means it has jagged edges. Basswood leaves are about as wide as they are long.

Simple, alternate, heart-shaped leaves ranging from 4 to 8 inches long.  Margins are coarsely toothed (serrated).  Summer color is dark green above and lighter green on the lower surface.  Fall color pale yellow.

Additional Resources

ODNR Division of FORESTRY - American Basswood (Tilia americana)

The Morton Arboretum - American basswood

Missouri Botanical Gardens - Tilia americana

The Friends of the Louisiana State Arboretum - American Basswood

Flowering Dogwood

Flowering Dogwood, is a small deciduous tree that typically grows 15-30’ tall with a low-branching, broadly-pyramidal but somewhat flat-topped habit. The characteristic feature of the Flowering Dogwood is its showy flowers that bloom in Spring. The Dogwood blooms start in early spring (April) and usually overlap the bloom period of the Redbuds.

Bright red fruits (drupes) are bitter and inedible to humans (some authors say poisonous) but are loved by birds. Fruits mature in late summer to early fall and may persist until late in the year.

Powder from the twigs and wood has been used as a tooth whitener, and the bark as a treatment for malaria. A red dye can be made from the roots and a black dye from the bark. Host to the Spring Azure butterfly.

Wildlife value: 
Drupes are a common food source for birds as well as small and large mammals. A drupe is a fleshy fruit with thin skin and a central stone containing the seed(s). The Dogwood flowers attract native bees and beneficial insects.

Flowering Dogwood has leaves that are opposite, ovate to elliptical, with veins that run parallel to the smooth, often wavy leaf margins. Veins grow toward tip of leaf without running all the way to the edge.

Additional Resources

ODNR Division of FORESTRY - Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)

The Morton Arboretum - Flowering Dogwood

Missouri Botanical Gardens - Cornus florida

The Friends of the Louisiana State Arboretum - Flowering Dogwood

Magnolia

Magnolias are among the most beautiful and popular landscape plants. Magnolias offer spectacular large flowers in several colors as well as unique and brightly colored fruits.

The Magnolia is commonly known as the Cucumbertree. It is named for the immature seed pod which resembles a small, lumpy cucumber (top right image). Magnolias have large leaves when compared to other trees, being about 10 inches long and 5 inches wide. The bark of most magnolias is usually gray in color.

Wildlife value: 
Birds and small mammals eat the seed, deer browse the twigs.

The Magnolia also known as the Cucumbertree has large, alternate, medium green leaves that are oval in shape with somewhat wavy margins.

Additional Resources

ODNR Division of FORESTRY - Cucumbertree (Magnolia acuminata)

The Morton Arboretum - Magnolia

Missouri Botanical Gardens - Magnolia acuminata

Friends of Louisiana State Arboretum - Cucumbertree

Redbud

Redbud, is a deciduous, often multi-trunked with zigzagged, horizontal branching understory tree with a rounded top (crown) that typically grows to 20-30’ tall with a slightly larger spread. It is particularly noted for its stunning pea-like rose-purple flowers which bloom profusely on bare branches in early spring (March-April) before the foliage emerges.

Flowers and flower buds can be added to salads, breads and pancakes. They have a slightly sour taste and are high in vitamin C. Young pods may be eaten raw, boiled or sautéed.

Wildlife value: 
Birds eat the seed and white-tailed deer eat the foliage. Native bees are attracted to the flowers and leafcutter bees sometime use the foliage for nesting materials.

Simple, alternate, 3 to 5 inches long, leaves are often wider than they are long; heart-shaped with a smooth outer margin (edge). Dark green changing to a clear yellow; fall color sometimes yellow green.

Additional Resources

ODNR Division of FORESTRY - Redbud (Cercis canadensis)

The Morton Arboretum - Redbud

Missouri Botanical Gardens - Cercis canadensis

The Friends of the Louisiana State Arboretum - Eastern Redbud

Red Maple

Red Maple is abundantly found as a popular shade tree, noted for its brilliant red fall color. Red Maple is native to the entire eastern half of the United States and adjoining southern Canada. Specimens found in the open may grow to 70 feet tall by 40 feet wide. Emerging new growth leaves, leafstalks, twigs, flowers, fruit and fall color are red or tinged with red.

Wildlife value: 
Birds and small mammals eat the seeds, buds, flowers and saplings; a valuable spring pollen source for insects.

Leaves of Red Maple are simple and grow opposite, 3 to 5 lobes per leaf, irregularly toothed (margin is serrated). Leaves emerge with red tinge but deepen to dark green. Fall color varies from red to yellow to orange. Most leaves about 4 inches long and wide.

Additional Resources

ODNR Division of FORESTRY - Red Maple (Acer rubrum)

The Morton Arboretum - Red Maple

Missouri Botanical Gardens - Acer rubrum

Scarlet Oak

True to its name, the scarlet oak produces wonderful scarlet (brilliant red color with a tinge of orange) fall color. Scarlet oak is a large tree with a rounded, open habit which eventually grows to 70' tall. Leaves are 3-6" long and deeply cut with bristle-tipped, pointed lobes. Foliage is a glossy green in summer turning to scarlet in fall. 

Wildlife value: 
Birds and mammals eat acorns and insects that are attracted to it; provides nesting sites and cover.

Scarlet Oak is known as the Oak with leaves that have C-shaped gaps between the lobes , but the gaps vary greatly as to their depth and width, even on the same tree. Scarlet Oaks have simple, alternate leaves with deep gaps and pointy-tipped lobes; 3 to 6 inches long. Dark green in summer, changing to scarlet in fall.

Additional Resources

ODNR Division of FORESTRY - Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea)

The Morton Arboretum - Scarlet Oak

Missouri Botanical Gardens - Quercus coccinea

Swamp White Oak

Of all the members of the White Oak group, the undersides of the Swamp White Oak leaves are the most white, and when contrasted with its dark green leaf uppersides it is truly “bicolored” (two colors). An excellent shade tree for any landscape.

Swamp White Oak prefers rich, deep, moist to wet, poorly-drained soil, but adapts well to dry and average soils. Since it is a member of the White Oak group, the fruits (acorns) only take a single season to develop.

Wildlife value: 
Birds and mammals eat acorns and insects that are attracted to it; provides nesting sites and cover.

Swamp White Oak has leaves that are alternate, oval shaped, with deep wavy margins and undersides that are distinctly white.

Additional Resources

ODNR Division of FORESTRY - Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor)

The Morton Arboretum - Swamp White Oak

Missouri Botanical Gardens - Quercus bicolor

Tulip Poplar

Also known as the Tuliptree or yellow poplar it is one of the tallest and fastest growing trees in North America. The Tuliptree is a valuable source of lumber. Tuliptree is the tallest tree of eastern forests with the straightest trunk, achieving heights of well over 100 feet with 4 foot diameter. It is named and noted for its tulip-like flowers that bloom in spring. Native Americans made dugout canoes from tuliptree trunks. The bark of older trees is often encircled with holes made by the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Woodpecker. Spicebush and Tiger Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars eat leaves.

Wildlife value: 
Abundant nectar attracts bees and hummingbirds including the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Birds and mammals such as squirrels attracted by seed. Leaves and twigs eaten by deer and rabbits.

Alternate, simple, 3 to 8 inch long with a unique 4-lobed, flat-topped leaf. Leaves are glossy green above with a pale green underside, changing to golden yellow in the fall. Distinct, 1/2 inch long reddish-brown buds are said to resemble a duck's bill.

Additional Resources

ODNR Division of FORESTRY - Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera)

The Morton Arboretum - Tulip-tree

Missouri Botanical Gardens - Liriodendron tulipifera

The Friends of the Louisiana State Arboretum - Tulip Poplar

Hillendale’s Meadow, Basins, and Rain Gardens Native Plants

The Hillendale Meadow, rain gardens and basins provide a habitat of native flowers and grasses to support our local pollinators. A pollinator is an animal that causes plants to make fruit or seeds. Pollinators do this by moving pollen from one part of the flower of a plant to another part. This pollen then fertilizes the plant. Only fertilized plants can make fruit and/or seeds, and without them, the plants cannot reproduce.

Insects (bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, flies, beetles) are the most common pollinators, but other animals such as birds and mammals serve as pollinators also.

It has been estimated that animal pollinators are needed for the reproduction of 90% of flowering plants and over half of human food crops. Pollinators are declining globally in both abundance and diversity. Each of us depends on these industrious pollinators in a practical way to provide us with the wide range of foods we eat. In addition, pollinators are part of the intricate web that supports the biological diversity in natural ecosystems that helps sustain our quality of life.

Why use Native Plants?

Native plants are those that occur naturally in a region in which they evolved. Native plants do a better job of providing food and shelter for native wild animals than do introduced plants.

Because native plants are adapted to local environmental conditions, they require far less water, saving perhaps the most valuable natural resource, water.

By using native plants you create habitat that nurtures and sustains the living landscape for birds and other animals.

Native plants are the foundation of our natural ecosystems and protect biodiversity. Biodiversity, short for biological diversity, describes the variety of life found in an ecosystem.

The following native flowers and grasses have been planted in the Hillendale Meadow, rain gardens and basins to help our local pollinators. Native plants were purchased from North Creek Nurseries as Landscape Plugs.

For a detailed look at the specific native plants in our meadow, rain gardens and basins, please click HERE.

Native bees are an important part of a healthy environment. Native bees are essential pollinators of wild plants. Wild plants provide food for many animals. Native bees are also very important in helping to make food for people to eat. Bees help make foods like… Apples, Blueberries, Mangos, Peaches, Plums, Pears, Cherries, Green Beans, Avocado, Watermelon, Broccoli, Blackberries, Tomatoes, Raspberries and MANY, MANY more.

There are many different kinds of native bees. There are 4,000 species of native bees in the United States.  Mason bees are common native bees found throughout most of the United States. There are 130 different types of mason bees throughout North America.

Mason Bees are gentle hard-working bees and rarely if ever sting. The male bee does not have a stinger, and the females will ONLY sting if trapped or squeezed. This makes them an ideal neighbor for the home or school garden since they pose little to no threat of stinging. You don’t squeeze them, they won’t sting you.

Bees help in pollinating flowers. Bees are known as pollinators. Insects like bees help move pollen from flower to flower. Moving pollen is called POLLINATION. When pollen is moved to the female part of the plant, the plant can make fruit with seeds. We eat these fruits and seeds. The seeds also are needed for a new plant to grow.

Mason bees are excellent pollinators. They like to belly flop onto a flower and get totally covered with pollen. A honey bee (non-native) will collect pollen on her body, mix it with saliva creating a paste and push it down into her pollen basket on her legs. A Queen Mason bee, however, is more of a messy pollen gatherer. She lands willy-nilly on a flower spreading pollen everywhere. The pollen sticks all over her body like velcro and is more likely to be redistributed to another flower in need of fertilization. Mason bees pollinate up to 100 times more effectively than honey bees.

Unlike honey bees, Mason bees are solitary, meaning that each female Queen Mason bee builds her own nesting rooms and gathers the nectar and pollen by herself for her young to eat as they develop. Although these bees are solitary, they will nest near other Mason bees.

Mason bees are some of the first bees to come out in the spring. They come out when the daytime temperatures start to average around 55 degrees. Where we live in Southeast Pennsylvania Mason bees will be active beginning sometime during April.

Mason bees nest in hollow tube shelters about the width of a pencil. When a Mason bee female finds a tube or tunnel she likes, the female gathers pollen and nectar, brings it back, stuffs it in the nest, lays an egg, gathers some mud (this is where they get the "Mason" part of their name), and packs that inside. Then, she repeats this process with more eggs. A Queen Mason bee uses a mud-like paste for nest-building. The Queen will seal off their nesting tubes where they lay their eggs, with a mortar-like application of mud. Female mason bees carry a mud ball in their large mandibles (jaws) back to their tube shelters.

Male Mason Bees only live for about 2 weeks. Long enough to mate with a female Mason bee. You can tell the male because he has a white nose. The female Queen Mason Bee lives for about 6-8 weeks. During the female Mason Bees life span, she will mate with a male Mason bee and then lay about 15 to 20 eggs before she dies.

By the end of the summer, the next generation of mason bees are fully grown but hibernate in their cocoons through the winter. When the temperature gets warm enough in the spring, they come out and the new generation of bees begins the process all over again.

A path through our Hillendale meadow is our new addition to our environmental education effort at Hillendale Elementary School. The path allows the Hillendale community to better explore the beauty and biodiversity of our meadow. Additional native plants have been planted to enhance the existing native plant population. We added interpretive signage highlighting specific plants and explaining the concepts of biodiversity, pollination, and pollinators.

This path is made possible by grants from the E. Kneale Dockstader Foundation and Dupont Clear into the Future. Thank you to both of those organizations. We also greatly appreciate the guidance of Scott Fisher an ecological steward and landscape designer at North Creek Nurseries. Thank you Scott!

I hope you take the time to slowly stroll our meadow and appreciate the natural wonders.

If you are interested in the native plants we added to our meadow please click HERE for a comprehensive listing.

Below is the interpretive signage that was installed in and around our meadow during August of 2022.

We are lucky to have a pond right outside of our school. The Hillendale pond is home to many living things. Frogs, Snakes, Toads, Fish, Tadpoles, Water Striders, Water lilies, Snails, Elodea, and Dragon Fly Nymphs are just some of the living things that live in or right around the pond. I hope you check out the pond when you go outside.

Watch a video of a Dragonfly flying around our pond.

Learn about a newt living in our pond.

Learn about a snake living in our pond.

Check out the Hillendale Pond goldfish.

Can you find FIVE frogs in the Hillendale Pond?

 Take a look at where our Hillendale pond Garter Snake lives.

 Take a look at our Hillendale Green Frogs in ACTION.

Watch a toad taking a spring swim in our pond.

Check out some more toads and hear them talking.

 Learn how the Hillendale Pond filter works.

First Grade Raised Garden Beds

As part of an Eagle Scout project, two raised garden beds were constructed on the Hillendale K-1st grade playground area. The raised garden beds were planted by Hillendale first graders in the spring of 2018. Second grade classes helped with the soil in the beds after learning about composting in their science unit on Soils. First graders planted herbs, lettuce, strawberries, and pumpkins seeds after learning about plants in our Organisms Science Unit.

During the spring first grade students helped to weed and water the beds. The kids loved eating the lettuce from the garden at recess!  We picked different herbs and then both smelled and tasted them.  We had several strawberries ripen and we got to eat them too!

The gardens continued to develop over the summer with a lot of watering provided by Mother Nature. Upon our return to school we were greeted by TONS of pumpkins and the vines attempting to play on the playground equipment. The students helped pull all of the dead vines and cleaned out the beds in the fall.   We also took several rotting pumpkins and composted them into the soil with the seeds in hopes that new pumpkins will grow this spring.

Our Hillendale second graders study Healthy Soil and Composting as part of their science curriculum. One of the highlights is getting up close and personal with earthworms. The kids learn that earthworms improve soil structure, water movement, nutrient cycling and plant growth.

At the completion of the Healthy Soil and Composting unit the earthworms are released into the gardens of Hillendale. Check out some photos of the the Great Earthworm Release!

The Brandywine Red Clay Alliance has done "in house" field trips for the fourth grade the past few years. Led by Julia Steiner, this program offers an amazing interactive experience that educates students about the land and water in their area.

Students move through six different centers where they learn about the invertebrates that live in the water, the importance of protecting our water sources from destructive runoff, the water cycle and how we can make sure our water is healthy, as well as planting opportunities to help strengthen the plant life in our rain gardens.

Students are engaged, excited, and completely engrossed in each center, leaving them with a greater knowledge of the watershed their school is in, and a sense of power about what they can do to have a positive impact on the land and water in our HES community. 

Native bees are an important part of a healthy environment. Native bees are essential pollinators of wild plants. Wild plants provide food for many animals. Native bees are also very important in helping to make food for people to eat. Bees help make foods like… Apples, Blueberries, Mangos, Peaches, Plums, Pears, Cherries, Green Beans, Avocado, Watermelon, Broccoli, Blackberries, Tomatoes, Raspberries and MANY, MANY more.

There are many different kinds of native bees. There are 4,000 species of native bees in the United States.  Mason bees are common native bees found throughout most of the United States. There are 130 different types of mason bees throughout North America.

Mason Bees are gentle hard-working bees and rarely if ever sting. The male bee does not have a stinger, and the females will ONLY sting if trapped or squeezed. This makes them an ideal neighbor for the home or school garden since they pose little to no threat of stinging. You don’t squeeze them, they won’t sting you.

Bees help in pollinating flowers. Bees are known as pollinators. Insects like bees help move pollen from flower to flower. Moving pollen is called POLLINATION. When pollen is moved to the female part of the plant, the plant can make fruit with seeds. We eat these fruits and seeds. The seeds also are needed for a new plant to grow.

Mason bees are excellent pollinators. They like to belly flop onto a flower and get totally covered with pollen. A honey bee (non-native) will collect pollen on her body, mix it with saliva creating a paste and push it down into her pollen basket on her legs. A Queen Mason bee, however, is more of a messy pollen gatherer. She lands willy-nilly on a flower spreading pollen everywhere. The pollen sticks all over her body like velcro and is more likely to be redistributed to another flower in need of fertilization. Mason bees pollinate up to 100 times more effectively than honey bees.

Unlike honey bees, Mason bees are solitary, meaning that each female Queen Mason bee builds her own nesting rooms and gathers the nectar and pollen by herself for her young to eat as they develop. Although these bees are solitary, they will nest near other Mason bees.

Mason bees are some of the first bees to come out in the spring. They come out when the daytime temperatures start to average around 55 degrees. Where we live in Southeast Pennsylvania Mason bees will be active beginning sometime during April.

Mason bees nest in hollow tube shelters about the width of a pencil. When a Mason bee female finds a tube or tunnel she likes, the female gathers pollen and nectar, brings it back, stuffs it in the nest, lays an egg, gathers some mud (this is where they get the "Mason" part of their name), and packs that inside. Then, she repeats this process with more eggs. A Queen Mason bee uses a mud-like paste for nest-building. The Queen will seal off their nesting tubes where they lay their eggs, with a mortar-like application of mud. Female mason bees carry a mud ball in their large mandibles (jaws) back to their tube shelters.

Male Mason Bees only live for about 2 weeks. Long enough to mate with a female Mason bee. You can tell the male because he has a white nose. The female Queen Mason Bee lives for about 6-8 weeks. During the female Mason Bees life span, she will mate with a male Mason bee and then lay about 15 to 20 eggs before she dies.

By the end of the summer, the next generation of mason bees are fully grown but hibernate in their cocoons through the winter. When the temperature gets warm enough in the spring, they come out and the new generation of bees begins the process all over again.

During our life cycle unit, the children had a lot of fun observing the stages of the life cycle for both butterflies and tadpoles.  Each day they enjoyed observing their growth and changes.

During our unit on plants, we learned about the parts of a plant, but also ways to help them grow. I then wanted to show the children that if we changed one variable for each seed pot we might get some different results. They loved this!  

One pot was placed in the closet - results showed us no sunlight will not give us a healthy green plant with chlorophyll, but a yellow plant.

One pot was placed in natural sunlight- results showed us that this plant was growing healthy at an even rate.

One pot was placed with no soil- results showed us that it will still grow but may not be healthy and produce all the parts for a pumpkin plant.

The student pots were planted but placed under artificial light 24hours a day.