Surgery and plastic What is a rain garden and how does it work?
A rain garden is a depressed area in the landscape that collects rain water from a roof, driveway or street and allows it to soak into the ground. Planted with grasses and flowering perennials, rain gardens can be a cost effective and beautiful way to reduce runoff from your property.
What makes a rain garden?
All About Rain Gardens
A rain garden is a garden of native shrubs, perennials, and flowers planted in a small depression, which is generally formed on a natural slope. It is designed to temporarily hold and soak in rain water runoff that flows from roofs, driveways, patios or lawns.
What are the benefits of having a rain garden?
Filter pollutants from runoff, • Recharge groundwater, • Conserve water, • Protect guts, ponds and coastal waters, • Remove standing water in your yard, • Reduce mosquito breeding, • Increase beneficial insects that eliminate pests, • Reduce potential of home flooding, • Create habitat for birds & butterflies, •
Do rain gardens have standing water?
Rain gardens are designed to infiltrate water in about one day. If designed and installed correctly, rain gardens typically do not have standing water for more than 48 hours. Be sure to test your soil type and infiltration rate, or percolation rate, before beginning your rain garden.
What are the best plants for a rain garden?
Plant a Rain Garden
- Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
- Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida)
- Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
- Swamp mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos)
- Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium)
- Sedges (Carex)
- Bluestar (Amsonia)
- Turtlehead (Chelone)
Where should I put my rain garden?
The rain garden should be located in a place that can collect as much impervious area (driveway, roof, sidewalks) runoff as possible. The best areas are generally where water naturally drains but doesn’t hold water. It should also be located at least 5′-15′ away from your home.
Do rain gardens attract mosquitoes?
Rain can be a valuable resource when managed properly. If not managed properly, storm water runoff can threaten homes, neighborhoods and even people’s lives. Rain gardens do not attract mosquitoes as the water is typically absorbed within 48 hours which is not long enough for mosquitoes to breed.
How deep can a rain garden be?
A typical rain garden is between four and eight inches deep. A rain garden more than eight inches deep might pond water too long, look like a hole in the ground, and present a tripping hazard for somebody stepping into it.
How do I make a rain garden without overwatering?
You can use pre-mixed rain garden soil, or you can use general gardening topsoil. Mix compost with your soil before adding it into your garden, as it will provide nutrients that may be lacking in the soil. Your soil’s compost content should be around 20-30%. The clay content in your soil should be minimal.
How much does it cost to put in a rain garden?
Professional installation typically costs about $10-$20 a square foot, or $1,500-$3,000 or more for 150 square feet, depending on the complexity of the design, the amount and variety of the landscaping, and how the water is directed into the rain garden.
How do you manage runoff?
Consider these affordable, do-able solutions to do just that.
- Add plants. Incorporate plantings, especially in areas where runoff collects.
- Protect trees. Like other plant roots, tree roots help absorb and filter runoff.
- Break up slabs.
- Go permeable.
- Catch runoff.
- Dig a trench.
- Plant a rain garden.
- Cover soil.
How do rain gardens prevent erosion?
Rain gardens:
Collect stormwater runoff and prevent it from flowing directly into lakes, rivers and wetlands. Allow runoff to soak into the soil so sediments settle and plants absorb nutrients. Prevent erosion by holding soil in place with their deep roots.
How do I get rid of a swampy yard?
What to do when your Backyard is a Swamp
- Determine the cause for poor drainage. You need to first determine what is causing water to accumulate in your yard before looking into potential solutions.
- Till the soil.
- Install a dry well.
- Grow trees and shrubs.
- Use drainage pipe.
- Slope the yard away from your home.
What is the difference between a bioswale and a rain garden?
The main difference is that the bioswale moves water to somewhere else in the garden, while also allowing some (but not all) of it to infiltrate. A rain garden is specifically meant to increase infiltration. Bioswales are often used to convey water to a rain garden.
What do rain gardens look like?
What does a rain garden look like? On the surface, a rain garden looks like an attrac- tive garden. It may support habitat for birds and butterflies, it may be a formal landscape amenity or it may be incorporated into a larger garden as a border or as an entry feature.