Spring is here and it’s the perfect time to create a rain garden! It’s a great way to support the health and stability of your garden’s ecosystem, and it’s a great project to keep everyone occupied, healthy and having fun during the COVID-19 lockdown. Here’s a great guide from our cash for houses Dallas team – your local real estate specialists who can help you sell your home for cash.
What is a Rain Garden?
A rain garden is a planted area situated in a low spot in your landscape – a space that rainwater typically drains into after a storm. It’s not supposed to be especially wet or swampy – it should actually just hold the rainwater for a brief period of time after a storm, filtering the rainwater into the ground. You can choose a natural depression in your yard and even direct rainwater to it from your hard landscaping and downpipes.
Why Plant a Rain Garden?
Rain gardens are a great way to make your yard more eco-friendly. They actively prevent pollution by filtering out impurities from rainwater like excess phosphorous and nitrogen from lawn fertilizers. This helps to protect the rivers, ponds and lakes that ultimately collect the rainwater that falls in your yard, preventing harmful algae blooms and keeping the water safe for fish, insects and birds.
These gardens can also help protect your home from floods and mosquito breeding by directing water flow away from your home, quickly filtering water and preventing puddles of standing water from becoming stagnant breeding grounds.
Rain gardens also support the native ecosystem of your area. Typically, they are planted with native plants because these are the most effective match for your local ecosystem. This means that they are ideally suited to the climate, soil type and environment, making them exceptionally efficient at filtering rainwater through the season. Using native plants has a great benefit in that they support local wildlife, so you’ll be creating a healthy ecosystem that attracts bees, butterflies, birds and beneficial insects to your yard.
Because they’re native, they also help support water conservation, as they won’t require additional water once established and will survive drought and heat easily.
The Size, Location and Shape of Your Rain Garden
Place your rain garden at least 10 feet from the base of your home, even if you are planning to divert your gutters into it. This will prevent water from structurally damaging your foundations or causing damp.
If you do not have a natural depression to use, you will have to dig one – just be sure you are well away from underground utilities and tree roots. The depression doesn’t have to be deep at all, and specialists recommend a gently sloped basin of 5-6 inches deep, with a flat bottom and sloped sides. It’s best to choose a natural, rounded shape for your rain garden, like an oval or kidney shape. You can also create a small berm using dirt and river rocks to help contain excess rainwater and prevent soil run-off. Simply break up the soil at the base of the bed to make planting easy – no need to even compost!
As for size, a small rain garden is better than nothing, although the experts recommend one of around 150 square feet in order to get a good range of plants in and create a beautiful result.
The Best Plants for a Dallas Rain Garden
There are so many beautiful native plants to choose from, but we recommend:
- Low growers – Deer Muhly, Gulf Coast Muhly, Frogfruit, Lawn Sedge, Mistflower, Pigeonberry, Tropical Sage, Texas Betony, River Fern, Winecup, and Hymenoxys.
- Medium-sized plants – Copper Canyon Daisy, Bamboo Muhly, Cherokee Sedge, Fall Aster, Turk’s Cap, Red Yucca, Rock Rose, Mexican Honeysuckle, Lantana and Flame Acanthus.
- Trees and shrubs – Texas Rosebud, Cypress, Cedar Elm, American Beautyberry, and Yaupon Holly.
Maintaining Your Rain Garden
Rain gardens need little maintenance once established other than removing weeds, which is what makes them wonderful for all yards. In the first year, however, you should water regularly until plants are established to keep roots moist, remove weeds, and break up any surface crusting in the soil if you notice water is remaining for longer than two days. You should limit fertilizing, as native plants don’t need it and over fertilizing can harm them.
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