Solve Your Drainage Issues with a Rain Garden!

Welcome back to Bountiful Gardens! It’s been a bit of a soggy start to the Summer, but that’s not stopping all these June blooms from flowering up a storm! 

All landscape plants depend on the rain to grow and thrive, but you don’t want too much of a good thing! If you’re facing landscape problems related to excess rainfall, I would highly recommend planting a rain garden. 

But what is a rain garden? 

A rain garden is a great design solution in order to guide and move water into the landscape, to control the speed of water and where it goes in the landscape. 

With so much water gathering in one place, it’s important to choose plants that are appropriate for said space. You’ll want to have plants that can tolerate wet soil as well as intermediate moist soils, and average soils that would be on the higher parts of the rain garden. 

Following that thought, it can be helpful to picture your rain garden in Tiers, with the lowest being the wettest and highest being the driest. During a rainstorm, water will filter down from the top tier, collecting in the lower tiers where it will then percolate into the ground. 

Your rain garden can be as big or as small as you need it to be—from a multi-tiered masterpiece to a small drainage garden at the end of a downspout. 

To slow flowing water, and minimize standing water, I recommend having a stone bed from the entrance of the rain garden to the lowest tier. Essentially, you're making an ephemeral streambed for water to follow.

Now that we have an understanding of Rain Gardens, it’s time to learn what plants we can fill them with!

Heliopsis, or False Sunflower, is a fantastic flowering perennial for the middle tier of your rain garden. Its tall golden blooms make quite the statement.

If you're looking for a native tree that can work well in the rain garden, check out Buckeyes! They have beautiful Spring flowers and unique palmate foliage.

Phlox is another great perennial for the middle tier of the rain garden. Its blooms come in tons of colors and is adored by pollinators.

Goldenrod is a great native perennial that can round out the middle and upper tiers of your rain garden while providing food and habitat for beneficial wildlife.

Dicentra, or Bleeding Heart, is a classic perennial that can handle lots of moisture, making it a great addition to the lowest tier of your rain garden. It can also tolerate a fair amount of shade.

Ferns and Rodgers Flower are also fantastic additions to the lower and middle tiers of your rain garden, and both offer eye-catching, delicate foliage.

Burnet features beautiful drooping pink flowers that bumblebees just can't get enough of! They're perfect for the middle tier of the rain garden.

Milkweed, in all its forms, is the Monarch butterfly's premiere host plant. It's also highly wetsite tolerant, making it perfect for all tiers of the rain garden.

American Water Willow is a lesser-known native aquatic perennial boasting cute pink flowers. It can tolerate standing water, so it's great for the lowest spots of the rain garden.

Coreopsis is a native wildflower that thrives in the middle and upper tiers of the rain garden, drawing in plenty of pollinators.

Catmint is another beautiful perennial for the lower and middle tiers of the rain garden and features fragrant bluish/purple flowers that pollinators adore.

Finally, Clethra, or Summersweet Pepperbush is a native shrub that can tolerate full sun up to full shade and blooms in mid-late June. It's great for all tiers of the rain garden, and especially shines in the lower tier.

This is just the tip of the iceberg! Over time, we'll go over more plants for more scenarios so you can garden with confidence!

Planting a rain garden is one of the best ways to beautify your landscape while also solving issues with excess water on your property. Better yet, you’ll be providing pollinators and wildlife with an abundance of pollen, nectar and habitat! 

And don’t be daunted! If you need any help designing or installing your Rain Garden, our expert team is here to help you every step of the way. So what are you waiting for? Come on down to Bountiful Gardens and start planting more today!

Check out this blog post in video form below!