Beauty and Function
A rain garden is a shallow, sunken garden bed designed to briefly collect rain water, allowing it to slowly soak back into the ground, rather than pond unexpectedly on your property or move into storm sewers. Your rain garden can be designed as a colourful feature that increases curb appeal or as a more subtle green space.
On home properties, storm water is usually directed to a rain garden from a downspout, but it can also come from a driveway, patio, shed or rain barrel overflow. In most rainfalls the garden drains immediately, but during intense storms (heavy rain in a short period of time) some water may be visible, but it should drain within several hours.
Rain gardens can be designed with attractive shrubs, ornamental grasses, and perennial flowers, such as the native Boneset. You can incorporate decorative elements such as large rocks, stepping stones, pebbles or mulch, integrating them to complement the rest of your landscape.
Rain Gardens cannot be built on every property. For example they need to be located in a relatively flat area at least 3 meters away from building foundations. But where possible they can create a beautiful, unique feature on your property, helping to recharge ground water supplies, filter out pollutants and create habitat.