Rain Gardens
Rain gardens are gardens designed to look good AND help soak up rain water that drains off your roof, driveway, and yard and ordinarily would be running into a storm drain. They are planted with native wildflowers, ground cover, shrubs, and trees. Rain gardens are designed to hold a few inches or more of water that then slowly filters into the ground water instead of running off to a storm drain. As a general rule of thumb they allow about 30% more water to soak into the ground than a typical lawn.
Besides helping to reduce flooding in developed areas, rain gardens also reduce the amount of pollutants such as fertilizers and herbicides that wash off yards and enter storm sewers and eventually into nearby streams.
There is a demonstration rain garden at the University of Delaware. It is set back off Academy Street in Newark, between Delaware Ave. and East Park, and right next to the Perkins Student Center and in front of the Water Resources Agency.
Rain garden website resources:
- For information about Delaware rain gardens: http://ag.udel.edu/Extension/horticulture/raingarden/
- Check out this comprehensive website that has everything from soup to nuts about raingardens http://www.lowimpactdevelopment.org/raingarden_design/whatisaraingarden.htm
- To view a fact sheet about Rain Gardens: http://www.water.rutgers.edu/Fact_Sheets/fs513.pdf
- To learn about constructing rain gardens: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/LFB/pag/projects/raingarden/resources.html