In looking at the attached photo, not many readers would realize that this is a rain garden. My husband and I dug out this rain garden (which is basically a planned swale) around 2012. From the very beginning, we populated it with native species only, with a focus on ones that would grow naturally in a sunny, wet meadow in Kentucky and the surrounding region. Over the years, we've augmented the wildflower and shrub collection for more biodiversity, (i.e., beautiful visual interest all season long, and to attract a larger number of pollinators.)
In our book, "Let the Earth Breathe: Gardening with Native Plants", we show you more details with many photos about how we created all of our rain gardens in our 12+ years project to develop a native plants sanctuary at our home in Louisville, Kentucky. Here are a few points about the "why" of rain gardens in native plants home gardening:
- Rain gardens hold rain water longer, allowing it to sink down into the water table instead of running down impermeable pavements, flooding public drainage systems.
- As rain water percolates down through established native plants and roots, the plants help clean the water.
- Rain water is better for the health of plant species than our tap water.
- If the soil in rain gardens is amended with organic material from the beginning, the water drains down below the surface before mosquitos have time to breed.
- All of our rain gardens collect rain water directly from our house roof drainages via pipes. An amazing amount of rain is collected from roofs. We have just chosen to channel it through our nature sanctuary via several inter-connected rain gardens. To learn more, please purchase our book. You can order signed copies HERE
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