So, with recent heavy rains, you may be asking yourself: How can I manage ponding and runoff as well as enhance my property? Here’s the answer we came up with for our shoreline home.
Our property has long had an area where water accumulates near the foundation of the house. This wet area eventually drains toward the shoreline, which has no lawn and is thick with hemlocks and blueberries. We wanted to hold the water away from our foundation as well as slow its way to the lake.
Our new rain garden has accomplished those two objectives. It is also a beautiful area that complements the surrounding woods and paths.
Employing river birch, blueberry bushes, ferns, and some water loving flowers, the rain garden is both beautiful and, of course, practical. Our foundation is now out of the water, and the garden has slowed the flow of rainwater running to the lake by giving the shoreland a chance to absorb and filter excessive rainfall.
I know this area will be even more beautiful as the new plants extend their absorbent root systems.
As our experience shows, rain gardens offer a practical and attractive way to protect our streams and lakes by managing excessive, fast-moving runoff.