A rain garden at your home will take care of itself: Parks employee shares tips for creating one

“The water is slowed down so it doesn’t create flooding and it doesn’t force a lot of storm water into rivers and creeks,” said Beth Burke, Five Rivers MetroParks interpretation coordinator.

Credit: Russell Florence

Credit: Russell Florence

Determining location and plant selection are also key to constructing a rain garden.

“A rain garden can be in a sunny or shady location — it just depends on where the water flow is coming that you’re trying to capture and slow down,“ Burke said. ”You also want to determine which plants to use based on two criteria: the amount of sunlight and plants that will do well in wet, moist conditions. We recommend planting native plants which have the benefit of not only helping in the rain garden but they provide a habitat for birds and insects."

Flowers such as irises and joe pye weed along with trees such as river birch can be very complementary as well.

“You can structure the rain garden as a pollinator garden if you’re trying to attract pollinators,” Burke said. “You can also provide some trees and shrubs. For example, a river birch can tolerate more moisture and could be planted in a wet area. Other types of trees would work as well but they may need a drier area and be planted higher out of the bottom of the bowl, so to speak.”

Credit: Russell Florence

Credit: Russell Florence

The rain garden at Wegerzyn MetroPark is located within the Arbor Garden, providing a great example of construction and planting if you’re curious to create your own.

“It’s a high area that is paved in some sections with stone walkways around it,” Burke said. “It’s a garden within a garden that helps Wegerzyn control rain water that comes through when there are high rain events. Wegerzyn was getting a lot of water running down into the Arbor Garden and it was pooling.”

You can also find rain gardens at Hills and Dales MetroPark and Cox Arboretum MetroPark.

Burke said it’s important to be mindful of weeding as a rain garden evolves but securing native plants will be beneficial to the whole.

“Until the plants really get established and start to grow, you’ll want to stay on top of the weeding,” she said. “But by selecting native plants, which already grow well in our region, they won’t need a lot of additional watering and fertilizing like your typical perennial that you’d go to the garden store and purchase.”

Credit: Russell Florence

Credit: Russell Florence

Above all, the opportunity to produce an efficient rain garden that can be self sufficient in the long run has its perks.

“Once it’s created it’s really a low-maintenance garden,” she said. “A lot of people like to have flowering plants and a beautiful yard but the excitement kind of wears off when you get to the middle of the summer and you’re going on vacation and have other activities. You don’t have a lot of time to get out and maintain your garden. But if you have a rain garden, it takes care of itself after the first couple of years.”

MORE DETAILS

Wegerzyn MetroPark is located at 1301 E. Siebenthaler Ave., Dayton.