Recently, I posted an article on 10,000 Rain Gardens in Kansas City. As a follow-up to this article, I wanted to provide some additional pictures and information on Rain Gardens in Kansas City.
First, a rain garden is a shallow depression planted with native plants that are designed to slow, capture and infiltrate rain. Just one inch of rainfall within a 24 hour period can cause more than 700 gallons of water runoff. So, these rain gardens are designed to drain water within a day. They also provide a death trap to mosquito eggs as they need 48 hours for the larvae to grow.
University of Missouri-Kansas City put in a rain garden on their Volker Campus. What was interesting to me is that the 1,000 square feet of rain garden has more than 170 plants representing 14 native species of plants. Some of the plants provided in the project include; meadow sage, miscanthus, cordgrass, cardinal flowers, sedge, Marsh Blazing Star, blue vervain, sweetspire, columbine, Purple Oseir willow, iris and Redosier dogwood. It is recommended to use native plants that have a deep root system to help filter water into the ground. For a sample of the selection of plants, Rusty Schmidt of the Rusty Bucket provides a blog on picking plants for a rain garden.
Rusty provides four categories to consider for a successful rain garden. This is an excerpt of his four categories.
"Moisture tolerances: The plants that will love your rain garden are the species that like average to moist conditions, plus some that like average to dry conditions. Generally, avoid plants that need saturated conditions, or very dry conditions. Plants that like moist conditions go in the deepest section of the garden. Plants that like average conditions go on the sides where it is not quite so deep. Plants that like dry conditions go around the top edges. When trying a plant that you have not seen in a brochure stating that these plants work well in rain gardens, try a plant out in small quantities to make sure that it will work well in your site. You can always go back for more.
Sun preferences: Just like in any garden design, consider whether the garden location gets full sun, partial shade, or full shade. Select plants accordingly. Most rain gardens are best suited in sunny locations due to the larger selection of plants that will work, but don't hesitate to place a garden in a shady or partial shady spot if your yard will only accommodate those locations.
If you have a shady garden, hosta and astilbe will work well along the sides of your garden. Goatsbeard and ferns are great lower plants as well as a few grasses, sedges and a number of shrubs. The only issue with shady gardens is that you will be limited on the number of flowering plants or flowers that bloom only in the spring.
Plant size: Consider the height and width of the mature plants. There are a lot of plants that will thrive in rain gardens, but might be too big for most residential yards. New England Aster, for instance, is a beautiful native wildflower which will tolerate plenty of water and produces lots of gorgeous purple flowers late in the fall. Butterflies love it. The problem is that it can grow to be 6-feet tall and may flop over the smaller plants next to it if not well supported. It is OK in my larger butterfly garden, but is too big for my small rain garden. Another species that can be too tall though is a wonderful rain garden plant is Joe-pye weed. Look for varieties that are the same species as these natives but have been cultivated to be a better plant for gardens. For instance a replacement to the New England aster is the Purple Domed Aster, which is only 2-feet tall maximum height. A replacement for the Joe-pye weed is the Gateway or Chocolate varieties. The chocolate variety brings me to another good point though.
Plant aggressiveness: Some plants stay put and get along well with their neighbors. Others spread aggressively via either roots or seeds. Ask how much they spread when making selections. For instance Chocolate Joe-pye Weed is very aggressive in the Kansas City area, where it is a great stay at home plant in Minnesota. Plant behavior can differ from region to region. Another favorite rain garden plant that should be a concern for most gardeners is Obedient Plant (or what I like to call "Disobedient Plant"). This plant is very aggressive and could easily take over a garden. Even if a plant is aggressive, check out how aggressive and how it spreads. The two that I just mentioned will take over a garden, but another rain garden plant that is limited aggressive and will fill in the holes but not push any of the other plants out is Blue Lobelia. Blue Lobelia is a wonderful rain garden plant for the bottom of the garden.
Here is a wonderful website that all gardeners whether rain or other should visit. It is the Missouri Botanical Garden plants of merit list. Fifty plants that they have found that grow well in our area, are attractive, and are underutilized in landscaping. Some of the species are native, some are non-native. Some, but not all, would work in rain gardens. The website is http://www.plantsofmerit.org/."
So, what do you think? Does this inspire you to build a rain garden? Tried of those low spots in your yard and want to have a site of beauty? Try a Rain Garden.
David L. Britt
Olathe, Kansas
http://www.davidlbritt.com/
http://www.heritage.net
http://heritagerealestateteam.com
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