Rain Gardens - A Beautiful Way To Improve Water Quality

A rain garden is really a garden planted with native flowers and grasses. Rain Gardens are designed to absorb rainwater runoff from driveways, sidewalks and the roofs of homes and other buildings.

Every time it rains or every time you water your lawn or wash your car, the water runoff goes either directly into a river, lake or ocean or through a city drainage system and eventually into the rivers, lakes and oceans.
All of the water that runs off streets, driveways and roofs ends up in the rivers, lakes and oceans, too.

So think about what's in that water runoff...it's probably chemicals from fertilizers, exhaust from cars, etc.

Instead of flowing down into storm drains, the runoff from these impervious surfaces soaks into the ground, thereby reducing the amount pollution from exhaust fumes and lawn fertilizers, etc. that eventually ends up in our lakes, rivers and oceans.

If you live on a lake or at the seashore, consider lakescaping. Lakescapes are the equivalent of raingardens but they're saving our natural bodies of water right at the source! How great is that?

Here's a quote from "Land And Water" The Magazine of Natural Resource Management and Restoration in an article about rainwater gardens in Burnsville, Minnesota.

"By capturing runoff in shallow depressions and letting it soak into the ground, rainwater gardens not only lowers the peak flow, but increases the base flow of water that reaches lakes and streams, but help recharge stores of groundwater in aquifers. Moreover, they filter out sediment and other pollutants like oil, grease and heavy metals by catching about the first inch of runoff, which contains the highest concentration of pollutants.

Rainwater gardens transform stormwater from a destructive carrier of pollution into a source of sustenance for plant and wildlife habitats: the plants thrive on nitrogen and phosphorus, while their stems trap sediment."

This rain garden is in Minnesota and it's brand new. It'll catch the runoff from the road and sidewalk. Notice its shape and position. It'll be beautiful in a very short period of time.

Rain Gardens typically have more wildflowers than grasses so they're usually more colorful when they're mature. Be sure to plant the taller varieties at the back or in the center and the smaller wildflowers and sedges around the edges.

There are hundreds of beautiful wildflowers that can be used in rain gardens. The best wildflowers to use are those native to your particular location.

We have all of these and many more in our Lakescape. They're fabulous for rain gardens, too. All of these photographs are from my personal collection.

When you create a rain garden or a lakescape, it's important to protect the tiny plants after you've set them into the earth. Mulching the plants helps keep the moisture to the roots until they become strong. After the plants are established and spreading, they will need very little care.

...that the average gasoline powered mower tested by the EPA emits in one hour of operation the same amount of hydrocarbons that a 1992 Ford Explorer emits over 23,600 miles?
SOURCE: Green Seal's Report

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