I was biking yesterday morning in a neighborhood mixed with small, turn-of-the-century hovel-type homes and new, McMansions. The streets are narrow, and there are no curbs or gutters - just a ditch / ravine on either side. With all the Houston rains, and with poor pitch, these ditches can hold water and be a mess.
One of the more well-to-do homes had done a FABULOUS and innovate job with the ditch. They had taken railroad ties or similar, and squared-off, then bermed up both sides of the ditch on their side of the road. Then they planted pretty water plants in the standing water. On top, along their grass and along where the street was, they had built gravel-filled channels, and planted geraniums and spiky tall plants. I've never seen anything like it. It's unusual for people to care so much about improving city property, or something that's is a "non essential." It was REALLY pretty, and it solved the stagnant water problem.
I just wanted to bike back and toss a handful off feeder goldfish or rosey reds in there, or a betta, to complete the ecology.
