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Rain
Gardens
Make your garden work for you and neighborhood waterbodies; install a
rain garden.
What is a rain garden?
A rain garden is a specialized garden that temporarily stores and treats
stormwater runoff.
How is a rain garden
different from a regular garden?
A rain garden is much the same a normal garden, except it is planted in
a slight 3-8 inch depression and plants selected for the garden have the
ability to sit in standing water periodically for short amounts of time.
How does a rain garden
work?
During a rain event, a rain garden will fill with stormwater runoff. After
it has stopped raining, the water pooled in the rain garden will soak
into the ground over the course of the following 24 hours. Rain gardens
receive stormwater runoff during rain storms two ways 1) the garden is
planted in a location in a yard that water naturally runs toward, or 2)
water is directed toward the garden via rooftop gutter downspouts, rain
barrel overflows, or a trench or swale.
How does a rain garden
help the environment?
When development occurs, it changes the way water flows in the environment.
Hard surfaces such as driveways, sidewalks, and buildings prevent water
from soaking or infiltrating into the ground and increase the amount of
water that runs over the surface of the land as stormwater runoff. As
more water flows over the land, it picks up more pollutants that make
their way untreated into local waterbodies via street stormdrains. Rain
gardens change the way water moves on a property to more closely resemble
how it moved before the land was altered by temporarily holding water
back and allowing it to soak into the ground. This process can have several
positive benefits such as:
Reducing the potential for flooding by holding water back
Replenishing groundwater supplies through infiltration
Removing phosphorus, nitrogen, and other harmful chemicals through plant
uptake
Removing heavy metals, petrochemicals, and other harmful chemicals through
special reactions that bind them to the soil and mulch
Additionally, rain gardens planted with native plants have the added benefit
of providing a food source for local wildlife such as butterflies and
birds.
Won't all that standing
water cause mosquito problems?
No. Mosquitos in Minnesota need at least five consecutive days of standing
water to hatch. Correctly designed and installed rain gardens will infiltrate
all their water within 24hours.
For a list of local native plant suppliers, native plant restoration
consultants, and other suppliers, download this list compiled by the Metropolitan
Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts provided by Dakota
County Soil and Water Conservation District >>>
For more information on how to build rain gardens download
this valuable Memo listing readily available literature >>>
Or, download this memo
listing local organizations that host rain garden workshops >>>
Or, visit the rain gardens and homeowner
water stewardship sections of the Apple Valley Water Resources Links webpage>>>
Or contact Apple Valley Natural resources staff at 952-953-2579.
Content updated on:
29-Dec-2006
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