Green infrastructure provides countless benefits, including cleaner water, increased infiltration, and added habitat. However, there are many challenges to design and maintain an environment where the discerning plants will thrive. Selecting the right plants for green infrastructure designs requires a thorough understanding of the site’s ecology and long-term stewardship. To make this step easier, ECT partnered with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) to create a plant selection tool for green infrastructure designs tailored to Wisconsin’s climate.
ECT’s plant selection tool is an interactive guide accessible from MMSD’s website. Users can select the style of planting they desire, either naturalized or ornamental, and then select options from a series of conditions that narrow down a master plant list.
After each option has been selected, a plant list is produced containing trees, shrubs, and herbaceous grasses and perennials that are appropriate for that site’s unique ecology. If users are not familiar with their site’s specific conditions, they can select default settings for rain gardens, bioretention areas, extensive green roofs or intensive green roofs. The default settings will pre-load conditions common for that practice, such as dry soils for extensive green roofs.