Rain gardens are a beautiful way to collect storm water from around your home. Rain gardens can be supplied by water from downspouts or sump pumps, or located in low-lying areas of your yard. Native plants make excellent rain garden plants, and often create butterfly friendly gardens.
The plants in this garden are fed by a rooftop downspout, and need watering only in drought conditions.
Plants in a rain garden take up excess water in their roots. Root systems slow the water down, allowing for the water to be absorbed and filtered by the soil.
Without a means for the water to be absorbed, it would create “run-off” that can flow into streets, sidewalks, and homes. This water run-off burdens the storm sewer and water treatment plant, and can lead to flooding from creeks, rivers, ponds, and lakes.
Contaminants in water can be filtered out by plant roots before they reach groundwater and bodies of water. This creates cleaner, more healthy water ways and abundant wildlife.
How to create your own rain garden:
First, assess your yard during heavier rains to see where the water flows into low-lying parts of your yard, which downspouts yield high water volumes, or where the sump pump drains. You can site the rain garden a little higher to “catch” the water before it gets to the lowest spot.
Second, create prepare the planting bed, which may include removing grass (de-thatching, or smother with cardboard and mulch on top for about 3 weeks). You can start with a smaller bed just a few feet wide and add onto it. The bed can be level or slightly sloped. Adding small stones to the outer, lower edges of the bed can help stabilize the soil from erosion, especially until your plants grow larger and become established.
Third, choose the color, height, foliage, and flowering time of the plants. See this native landscaping sheet for plant ideas for wet soil (inner, lower plants) to medium moisture soil (outer, upper edges).
Refer to this link describing how to build a rain garden and this link for more detailed instructions on building your rain garden, keeping in mind that it may be done on a small scale.
Concerned about attracting mosquitoes to your rain garden?
Rain gardens actually help the water be absorbed into the soil rather than pool and become standing, stagnant water that can breed mosquito larvae in about a week. For natural ways to control mosquitoes in your yard:
- Remove, cover, or turn over containers, toys, yard equipment that may collect water
- Keep rain gutters clear of debris that holds water
- Change water in bird baths every few days, or add a mister, bubbler, or fountain to keep water moving
- For ponds, add fish and attract frogs which eat mosquito larvae, and keep the water moving with a fountain
- Remove dense ground cover, such as English ivy, which can create mini-pools of water on and under leaves.
- Try to avoid spraying pesticides in your yard. The chemicals that are often used not only kill adult mosquitoes, but also bees and other insects, and can harm animals that they feed. If you do spray, request that spraying be done during the early morning or early evening when insects are less active, and avoid spraying flowering plants.
- Wearing long sleeves, long pants, and use personal protective mosquito repellent.