August 29, 2008 IBM facility goes green with rain garden Play video

(Anya Huneke, NECN: Essex Junction, VT) - Big blue is trying its hand at gardening. The IBM facility in Essex Junction, Vermont, has planted a new garden next to one of its large parking lots. This garden, however, is meant to be more than just beautiful.

IBM is generally known for the things it makes, not the things it grows... .gardening has become one of the company's ventures.

Next to this parking area is the newly-added rain garden-- designed not only to improve the look of the lot... but to improve its impact on the environment.

Environmental engineer Dave Libby says the garden is set up to capture and filter stormwater runoff from the parking lot-- so it doesn't go directly into the nearby Winooski River.

Libby says these gardens work especially well with highly permeable soil... and with plants that are very tolerant of water.

Site environmental manager Thom Jagielski says the garden was a no-brainer-- cheap and easy, and it helps reduce pollution and erosion.