Permaculture/rain garden

Greetings. I am from South Coast New England. I have been organic gardening most of my life....that's decades folks. Yes I'm a Crone.
I just joined. I used to come here many years ago. I just got internet in my home and look forward to sharing and learning with my new friends.

I haven't found anything on Permaculture here yet. Can anyone lead the way for me? I am working with a club at Bristol Community College in Fall River, Ma on such a Project. My gardening has leaned in the Perennial direction anyway but now there is so much information and classes on the subject, it's becoming quite popular. See UMass Amherst Permaculture Garden.

We have a "rain garden" spot on the grounds and I am researching plants. We are in Zone 6 (for now). The soil here is wet to standing water (puddles) in the winter and spring and rather dry in the summer. Has anyone grown Oregon Grape? It is revered and worshiped by many and cursed by others as an invasive. I just read a thing on here were someone found day lilies to be invasive. Not me, love them. Any thoughts?
Peace

Welcome, Cissy. You'll like it in this community!

I don't have a good place for Oregon Grape and the rocks and sand create natural boundaries for daylilies so mine have a limit. My "rain garden" is a spot off the downspout of my house which I rebuilt with about three feet of soil and compost.. It gets excavated periodically for house changes, but currently there are hosta, tiarella, wintergreen,berginia and hellebores, none of which I ever have to water. I'm still learning the habits of the "doll's eyes" actea which do die back. We dug a French drain in the vicinity so it naturally gets whatever moisture there is! Sadly, I want plants in other areas too

Discussion on it in this thread
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/859157/?hl=permaculture

and an article http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/178/

hope that helps a bit

Oh and how rude of me...WELCOME!

Hope you enjoy being on Dave's...good luck....

Please keep us updated on your project in Bristol, Cissy.

My interest would be in urban permaculture for people who don't have an abundance of time energy or money! I do add volcanic dust to my garden beds, with benefit. The idea of mutual sustainability is very interesting, and very hard to achieve, especially on a small scale. I think it is noteworthy that even the Indians used to plant fish with their corn/bean/squash crops as they explain in tours of Plimoth Plantation. Thus, our intelligence in what we do always matters. In my town, just establishing a community garden was a big deal, so I am not aware of any permaculture clubs per say.