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SAVE OUR WATERWAYS

plant a rain garden

Designed to receive, retain, and filter storm water run-off,

A rain garden in front of the Crane library collects water from the small overhanging roof at the entrance. It was created by Dave Majewski of Premium Services, Inc. and Buffalo Riverkeeper. Photo of Crane garden by Dave Majewski.

rain gardens are about much more than gardening. Excess storm water is the reason many of our Lake Erie beaches are closed during the summer on beautiful days. After washing over lawns, driveways, and parking lots, storm water runoff can carry with it chemical fertilizers, motor oil residues, even bacteria from pet and wildlife waste, all of which then runs into drains that often lead directly to waterways. From there, these contaminants can end up in drinking water reservoirs or favorite swimming spots.

Storm sewers, which are designed to send polluted water to a water treatment plant, can become overwhelmed, and the resulting overflow enters ours lakes, rivers, and streams, adding more problems. And given the aged condition of Western New York’s sewer systems, this happens a lot.

Rain barrels are one way to save and use rain water before it becomes contaminated, but an even better way is to send the water directly into the earth, where water not used by plants soaks into lower soils, becoming naturally filtered before it eventually enriches wetlands and waterways. Of course, you don’t need to be aware of this hidden process to appreciate the beauty of a rain garden. What you will notice is that rain garden plants remain lush, green, and blooming even during droughts—without any irrigation or chemicals.

Here’s more good news: A rain garden is easy to put together. Seriously.

This residence in a Chicago suburb features a green roof, rain garden, native plants, and bioswale. Photos of Chicago garden by Barbara Pintozzi.

• First choose an area at least ten feet from the house that’s in full or partial sun (shade will not work). The area should have a gentle slope of three to twelve inches.

• Next, make sure that water drains well here (see if it puddles) and dig a planting bed in a rectangular or oval (more attractive) shape. PVC pipe can be connected from your downspout to the area, and should be buried at least six inches underground.

• Prepare the bed with a well-draining mixture of sand, compost, and top soil, and add a berm (raised area) on the downhill side to keep water in the garden.

• Plant the area with groups of three to seven plants in each species that you have chosen. (It can also be seeded, which will take longer.) The bed should be attractively laid out and decorated with stones, small fences, or other materials that will not interfere with drainage, but will help it complement your other garden areas. Native plants will work best; grasses and rushes are great rain garden plants.

• The garden will need to be watered for two weeks, but after that it shouldn’t need water or maintenance of any kind except for cutting back winter debris in spring and some weeding. Once the plants have matured, weeding should become unnecessary.

• For a detailed online rain garden booklet, visit this site, which is the source I have used: www.erie.gov/environment/pdfs/rain_garden_booklet.pdf.
—E.L.

Elizabeth Licata is editor of Buffalo Spree, writes for the blogs GardeningWhileIntoxicated.com and GardenRant.com, and is a contributor to Horticulture magazine.