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Rainy day gardens

May 8, 2007 by Andrea Bellamy 3 Comments

pink_tulip_2_2.jpg

After my brother-in-law shared these gorgeous photos, taken this past (rainy) weekend, I started thinking about designing for the rain. Rain is such a given here on the West Coast (especially during winter months) that designing your garden with the rain in mind is such an obvious (and necessary) thing. If you don’t think about drainage, the wet could kill your plants faster than the cold.

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I’ve just learned about rain gardens (as a sustainable approach to stormwater management). Rain Gardens of West Michigan says:

A rain garden is constructed as a place to direct the rain from your roof or driveway, and is landscaped with perennial plant species native to our region. Rain gardens have loose, absorbent soils; a shallow, bowl-shaped ponding area; and are made to resemble the function of a natural meadow or light forest ecosystem.

I wonder why I haven’t heard of this being done locally. The benefits to the environment seem fantastic. Rain is usually something we cope with, not embrace. (Although I admit my heart sometimes skips a beat at the sight of raindrops on the Alchemilla mollis in my front bed.)

I’m discovering, however, that there are some very creative ways of using rainwater in rain garden design – beyond rain chains, though some of those are pretty too. Some great examples include this school, a recent ASLA winner, and this private residence done by Edgar David and Associates.

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Hmm. One more thing to work into the design for my backyard. Blast.

Photos: Nathan Garfinkel.

See also:
A Place in the Rain: Designing the West Coast Garden
Instructions for creating a rain garden.

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Filed Under: Garden Design, Pacific Northwest

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kim says

    May 10, 2007 at 6:58 pm

    If I ever win the lottery, I am SO getting some of those copper rain chains for my house. I adore those.

  2. dilly dalley doolittle says

    May 13, 2007 at 8:27 pm

    Thank you so much for such an interesting post. We have struggled on with drought here in Australia for what seems like years. Five years of seriously below average rainfall here in Canberra. Who knows what the future has in store for us with climate change coming? More drought I suspect. I’m very excited about trying some of these rain ideas so that when it does rain at least we’ll use the water instead of sending it down the drain. Granted – someone down the drain needs it – like the Murrumbidgee River, which feeds into the Murray River, which waters our farms and orchards and eventually reaches the city of Adelaide. I’ll give it some thought but I do feel exited by the possibilities.

  3. Ottawa Gardnener says

    May 16, 2007 at 7:27 pm

    This is why I love this blog. It is always full of fascinating stuff.

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