Rain, rain, go...make a garden!
My husband and I built a new home on Western Ave and moved in December, 2023. We landscaped the front yard immediately with conventional sod and plants. The next spring, part of the side yard was consistently water logged and difficult to walk on or mow the grass. There was a low lying area that collected water from the backyard and the sump pump discharge.
We investigated various solutions, including an expensive connection directly to the storm sewer. Around this time we received a newsletter from the local Conservation Foundation which featured news about native plants and rain gardens. I learned that a rain garden can be planted in a low lying area to absorb rainwater much more effectively than sod. I contacted Jim Kleinwachter from the Conservation Foundation who made a house call and walked the yard with me to provide advice regarding the placement and size of a rain garden.
After that meeting I reached out to Bruce Blake at Prairie Wind Natives to select and purchase plants for the 20’X4’ area that we cleared on the north side of our house. Bruce has a great selection of reasonably priced native plants and is very knowledgeable. I planted in August, 2024.
As spring 2025 arrived, all of the plants had survived and began to grow and fill in the 80 square foot planting space. This past summer and fall, we’ve enjoyed watching the hummingbirds, monarch caterpillars and butterflies and bees visiting the rain garden. I selected mostly flowering plants of a variety of colors and bloom times so we’ve also enjoyed flowers throughout the season.
And as hoped, we no longer have areas of the lawn too wet to mow and walk on, as all of the plants absorb the rain water effectively. This has been an easy and inexpensive landscaping project that created a beautiful wildlife habitat and solved a drainage problem.
Thank you for letting me share my story. It’s been so much fun to watch the garden grow and attract wildlife. Even my next door neighbor commented on how they’ve enjoyed watching the hummingbirds and butterflies outside their window this summer.
