Beauty in a Rain Garden

     Establish a Rain Garden in your yard to help the environment. A Rain Garden will collect rain water that runs off your roof. This method prevents the pollutants carried by harmful substances that wash off roofs and paved areas that eventually run into street gutters and streams and lakes. Collecting the rain water in a shallow depression in your yard will increase the amount of water that filters into the ground, which recharges local aquifers. To create a Rain Garden you need to select a site near a gutter where the water can run off the roof into your Rain Garden. Create a two foot run off area or stream bed that leads to the Rain garden. Dig an area of 1-2 foot deep and 4-6 feet wide for the garden. Transplant native plants and grasses that tolerate a wetland or wet prairie. Add mulch to the bed of the rain garden to keep weeds from growing. By viewing the photo you can see that I added a Japanese bridge for aesthetic purposes. The bridge also provides a method for walking over the stream bed.
     The Rain Garden provides a valuable habitat for birds, butterflies and many beneficial insects. It can become a garden area where you can interact with nature by maintaining the garden, observing the wildlife, taking photographs, and/or sketching and painting a picture of the plants. Add a bench and it becomes a meditative area of your garden.