Rain Gardens: Eco-Friendly, Sustainable AND Gorgeous!

This article is excerpted from The Globe and Mail: Rain gardens transform flooded backyards into green landscapes.

The Globe story about rain gardens begins with Karen Ho, who four years ago purchased a new home in Milton. What she didn’t realize until she moved in was that the surrounding homes were on a slightly higher elevation. Even after the homes were sodded and landscaped, the runoff from the surrounding 10 homes kept pooling her backyard, rendering it unusable.

After approaching both the City of Milton and the developer and returning with no solutions, Ho reached out to a local landscaping company – Fern Ridge Landscaping and Eco-Consulting that has installed 80 rain gardens throughout the Greater Toronto Area in the past seven years.

Even at this year’s Canada Blooms  rain gardens were a feature, demonstrating a way to manage excess water on homeowners’ property.

But what exactly is a rain garden?

According to The Globe article:

Rain gardens work by attracting and containing runoff, then drawing it down into the groundwater table. Planted with native flowers, grasses, shrubs and trees, in a somewhat sunken bed of loose, deep, absorbent soil, compost, sand and sometimes gravel, a rain garden collects, stores, utilizes and filters runoff and storm water before they can make their way into creeks, rivers and lakes, down a street sewer grate or into the nearest basement.

In a typical yard, a rain garden may be situated near the source of runoff – the roof or driveway, but not too close to the foundation – or planted in a naturally low-lying spot on the property with the runoff diverted and carried through a pipe, either above or below ground.

According to the story, rain gardens aren’t that complicated to build. Backhoes, special drainage pipes or a plumber’s know-how aren’t required to render a beautiful and useful rain garden. Minimum requirements are a depression in the ground, some elbow grease and the right plant life which is probably where most homeowners need help.

Jen Mayville of Environmental Defence states that the best plants for rain gardens are those that tolerate both wet and dry conditions. Native plants make the best choices because they are well suited to local growing conditions while also supporting local wildlife including birds and pollinators such as bees and butterflies.

Positive attributes of rain gardens

Along with creating habitat in an urban setting, rain gardens can have a positive effect in our water sheds, by not adding contaminants and bacteria that occurs in runoff from turf grass, roofs and pavements.

This year in some Canadian municipalities, it will be mandatory to disconnect downspouts in favour of rain barrels. However, with sudden deluges of rain due to extreme-weather events, a rain barrel can quickly overflow.

The beauty of a rain garden however, is it’s ability to process whatever weather conditions there are, and look great in the process.

Gardening resources for home owners

If you are keen on capitalizing on the benefits of sustainability and cost-saving projects in your lawn and garden and are looking for ideas, the Ontario Horticultural Society is the perfect resource.
An organization of avid gardeners, who are engaged in working on community beautification projects, planning and implementing sustainable environment projects and giving seminars and speaking to related organizations.

In fact, it was the OHA that steered Karen Ho, towards the rain garden and directed to her Fern Ridge Landscaping & Eco-Consulting. Now four years old, Ho stated in the Globe article:

“Now, when it rains or when it’s thawing in spring, I have a lovely pond in my front garden, full of native aquatic and marsh plants. The water is only there for a while – a few days- and then I don’t have a pond anymore’.

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