Rain garden?

J&K10910 · June 2012

We have a little...gully? towards the back of our property. It runs off into a pond behind us. My dad was concerned about it washing out and eroding, and showed us some of the signs of erosion. It's also really hard to mow. My dad suggested we plant a "rain garden" to help anchor the soil and so we don't have to mow.

I know I can google, and I plan to, but I'm just wondering if anyone has one, what's worked well for them, what hasn't worked well, etc. Pictures are worth bonus points. Extra bonus points if you're in the great white north as well.

And let's get one thing straight. I am NOT a gardener. So things that need minimal care and skill are best.

ETA: Just for clarity, we want to keep it gully-like to encourage the run off to go down to the pond and away from our house. Just plant some stuff to help keep it from eroding further and so we don't have to mow.

sparent2010 · June 2012

Your post reminded me that we have to plant one as well. I did find this http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/components/08464-rain-garden.pdf

I think we might try dogwoods since they are native to the area and the gully behind us is a nature reserve. I don't want to plant anything invasive. We might try strawberry plants, but I think we need something with a good root system.

Lizzieyounce · June 2012

I'm in TX, but I'd advise going with native plants...that's what I did in my garden because of droughts...

Here's a link to an article I found regarding water gardens in your state...

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/mayjun04/raingardens.html

Hope this helps!!

Marrin713 · June 2012

Our place in Wisc is having some soil erosion on the banks of the river. What my brother did a few years back was sow tons of wild flower seeds. So of course we had to wait for them to come up, but they do every spring. I'm not sure if it's helped with the erosion, but the pier is fine. He also picked seeds of wild flowers that are native to Wisc or that part of Wisc. He's the green thumb in the family.

[Deleted User] · June 2012

I asked H but he said he didn't know your climate so wouldn't be able to suggest plants. But he did say that you could just fill it with rocks (landscaping rocks or stone slabs like you'd find at a landscape materials/supply store). Then there's no maintenance and you could make it look like a rock garden.

ETA - you'd be building it up like a bulkhead, which is designed to prevent erosion, if that helps.

J&K10910 · June 2012

sparent, we have dogwoods in front and they're low maintenance and look nice. I guess it never occured to me to plant them back there!

That's a great link Lizzie. I love that they attract dragon flies which eat mosquito larvae, because our yard is seriously mosquito-y because of the pond behind.

J&K10910 · June 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_rain-garden?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d51138b6-48ed-4550-9fcc-a3d0dabb2112Post:69b230f3-2730-4695-89f8-95f5c306f16f">Re: Rain garden?</a>:
[QUOTE]Our place in Wisc is having some soil erosion on the banks of the river. What my brother did a few years back was sow tons of wild flower seeds. So of course we had to wait for them to come up, but they do every spring. I'm not sure if it's helped with the erosion, but the pier is fine. He also picked seeds of wild flowers that are native to Wisc or that part of Wisc. He's the green thumb in the family.
Posted by Marrin713[/QUOTE]

We were going to do wildflowers along one sid eof our house next year. We thought about doing wildflowers back there too, but I'm concerned about drowning them out, and them spreading to the rest of the yard. Definitely something to look into!

Sesh, that's a good idea too...I wouldn't have to grow the rocks, haha.

NOLAbridealmost · June 2012

Hi! I have nothing to add, but I just wanted to say that this post made me realize that the badges (newb, platinum, etc.) are the same for every poster on each page of the thread based on what the first poster on the page's true post count/badge is.

Sorry if that's insanely old news, but I was excited to figure that out!

Marrin713 · June 2012

J - we have flooding on the Wisc River a few times every spring and summer and the plants just keep coming back. Ours haven't spread and I didn't really think about that as a consideration. My brother had an idea and I just let him run with it. So far so good. But I like the rock garden idea as well. There's so many interesting rocks and paving stones and designs to look into. Also, if you have a water garden/pond store near you, they could advise.

RupertPenny · June 2012

I would ditto PPs recs for native plants. They will be the most low maintenance. I'm sure a good local nursery could give you lots of ideas.

saacjw · June 2012

I love random daily chances to use my degree!

You want to plant native plants with deep root systems. Those will be able to survive periods of drought and rain, plus they'll grip the soil best. You're in Minnesota, so your best bet might be to go with prarie plants and grasses, but I know very little on specific species because my plant knowlege is primarily south of there. The amount of sun and shade will determine what works best as well. Rocks are a good way to prevent erosion too, but I'm not overly fond of them because they don't dramatically increase the rate of run off, like larger plants would.

Also, joys of native plants- they're lower matainance. Sometimes you need to cut them back, but otherwise, they can pretty much be let alone.

Check out this website- there are design ideas with lists of plants that are used. I know I could buy a lot of these plants at the garden store I worked at in Ohio, so I imagine you should be able to find them too.

http://www.ci.maplewood.mn.us/index.aspx?NID=456

http://www.ci.maplewood.mn.us/index.aspx?NID=457

Also- this one has ways to determine good native plants for your area. There's a bit of advertising for their own seed mixes, but there's good lists. (PS, if you don't know answers to things like what your soil is, you can do a few tests by squeezing the soil to see how long it takes to break off, but I'd guess a silt or clay, just based off of what I know of Minnesota).

http://nativespec.com/nativebrowser/

RWS2011 · June 2012

You already had a lot of good responses, so this may be superfluous, but I did find a few additional links you could reference for your rain garden (all clickable):

Morning Sky Greenery

Rain Gardens with Water Quality in Mind

Pamphlet with more info

Happy gardening!

J&K10910 · June 2012

Thank you all for your responses! All very helpful

saacjw, you're probably long gone, but what's your degree in?

saacjw · June 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_rain-garden?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d51138b6-48ed-4550-9fcc-a3d0dabb2112Post:b0f1d4e2-65b1-4636-95b5-968e8ce9c18d">Re: Rain garden?</a>:
[QUOTE]Thank you all for your responses! All very helpful :) saacjw, you're probably long gone, but what's your degree in?
Posted by J&K10910[/QUOTE]

<div>Landscape architecture. I'm not working in that field now, but bits and pieces of my schooling come rushing back to me on occasion. I didn't do a lot of plant design (more large scale planning type stuff) but some things stuck around. </div><div>
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Rain garden?

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