Rain Gardens
Rain gardens are landscape features designed to absorb and filter stormwater runoff from impervious surfaces like roofs, sidewalks, driveways and patios. They create an attractive landscape which saves money by decreasing water usage and reducing maintenance time. Rain Gardens provide natural infiltration of rainwater into the soil and helps to filter out pollutants such as fertilizer, pesticides, oil, heavy metals and other chemicals that are washed off your lawn, rooftop and driveways during rain events. These landscape features provide for water storage which reduces stormwater runoff into the local waterways. This can also help decrease streambank erosion and lower the risk of localized flooding.
- Find the Right Location - Rain gardens are best located in natural depressions or low lying areas where water flows naturally.
- Test the Soil - A rain garden should not hold water for more than 24 hours therefore run a simple infiltration test.
- Calculate the Size and Determine the Shape of Your Garden
- Construct your Rain Garden - Identify the location of underground utilities by contacting 1-800-DIG-TESS (344-8377). This is a free service.
- Plant Selection and Installation - Select Native and Adaptive Plants which are specific to our North Texas region.
- Maintenance - Grow Green Rain garden
Container Gardens and Stormwater Planters
Container gardens and Stormwater planters can be an attractive addition to a patio, deck or small outdoor area and offer a pervious space to capture rainfall that would otherwise end up in our local waterways. So even if you live in an apartment or small house with minimal space you can still help improve our local water quality while creating a place to enjoy the simple pleasure of gardening.
- When purchasing or building containers/planters, make sure there are sufficient drainage holes and/or an overflow mechanism so plants do not drown during rain storms.
- Never use saucers on the bottom of containers that retain water. This can provide a breeding space for mosquitoes.
- Choose native drought and saturation-tolerant plants.
- Use a mix of soil appropriate to the plant. Ornamental and native plants will thrive in potting soil or topsoil, whereas vegetable plants and herbs require a mix of potting soil and compost/organic matter.
- If you re-plant annually, turn or till the soil once a year to improve infiltration.
- Place container plants along the perimeter of a home or building to catch stormwater runoff from the roof. This will help reduce your overall water usage.
For more information on Rain Gardens or Container Gardening visit the following websites: