Warsaw. Rain garden behind the Independence Museum

Changes for the Independence Museum on Solidarity Avenue Municipal Roads Authority he announced it already in May. In July they reported about start of work. As part of the investment, a parking lot that was closed years ago will disappear. The paving will allow for the expansion of the existing square. It will be decorated with new trees and a rain garden.

“However, we have not yet uncovered all the cards related to the rain garden. It will be completely different than the previous ones. It will be a so-called Gdańsk-type garden. It was the local gardeners who were the forerunners of establishing such gardens in Poland,” the road workers announce and explain what it involves: “Until now, the rain gardens we established were flat. The difference between an ordinary flowerbed and such a garden was the multi-layered cross-section and drainage wells. Water reached the garden through narrow gaps. This is a good way to supply water to the garden, but not as effective as in the case of Gdańsk-type gardens.”

However, when building a rain garden in the Gdansk style, the area for the garden is lowered. Thanks to this, water from the street flows into it by gravity. Instead of narrow gaps, we have widely lowered curbs. In this way, the green retention potential of such a garden is significantly increased.

In the changes for the Museum of Independence, ZDM wants to refer to the work of Alina Scholtz – a famous landscape architect who in the 1950s developed a project for the greenery accompanying the WZ route. At the end of September, we will celebrate the 116th anniversary of the birth of the architect, who also worked on the reconstruction and renovation of the Saxon Garden, the project for the greenery accompanying the Sady Żoliborskie housing estate and the project for the park in Powiśle (today the Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły Park).

In the case of the new garden behind the Independence Museum, it will be lowered relative to the terrain by about 40 centimetres. “We will also build a low earthen embankment (about 60 cm high), which will additionally collect water. Among the planned plantings are water mint, marsh geranium, globeflower and Anzac daylily. A total of 40 square metres of new greenery,” the road workers calculate.

The new rain garden will be decorated not only with low greenery. There was also room for new trees. Three balsamic amaranths, to be exact, which take on spectacular colors in the fall. Residents will be able to see for themselves this year, because the trees were planted now, despite the middle of summer.

Trees are generally best planted in spring or autumn. The aforementioned sweetgums were prepared for an unusual time of year for planting, as they were grown in pots.

It is usually not easy to find such trees available in nurseries. Especially if you want to plant a larger number. Trees with a wide trunk are usually grown in the ground and spring and autumn are the best times to dig them up and transplant them. “You can try to plan the planting and dig up the trees in advance in a leafless state and place them with the root ball in appropriate containers that allow for the development of small roots without overgrowing them. We sometimes use this method,” admits ZDM.

However, the preparations for tree planting are limited by the moment of signing the contract with the contractor. “Often, before we sign it, the time for such preparations has passed. In the case of the ambrists in al. 'Solidarności', the contractor managed to find three trees in nurseries that were large enough and produced in pots, and they can already grow in their target location,” the road workers emphasize.

The 18th-century Przebendowski Palace, located between the carriageways of the WZ route, was severely damaged during the Warsaw Uprising. It was built in 1948-49. During the Polish People's Republic, it housed the Lenin Museum. Since 1990, it has housed the Independence Museum. In 2000-2009, one of the halls of the monument housed the Paradiso cinema. In 2021, a three-year comprehensive renovation of the building was completed.