Rain gardens for the Sierra foothills

What is a rain garden?  It’s a garden specifically designed to take advantage of where water naturally drains. In dry climates, this extra water allows a wider variety of plants to be grown. Rain gardens can also be planned just to direct water away from certain areas, like home foundations or low spots that collect unwanted moisture.  The idea is to capture and soak up storm water where it can be used in your garden.

Rains gardens can lessen erosion and allow rain water to soak into the ground renewing ground water supplies and control flooding. They attract wildlife, reduce hand watering and are attractive when used in place of high maintenance lawn areas.

You make a rain garden by digging a shallow wide hole, possibly edging it with rocks and stones and planting around the edges to contain and use the runoff water for moisture loving plants. The easiest place to construct a rain garden is at the end of your drainage pipes leading from your homes downspouts. Plan to dig a shallow wide indentation in the ground and fill it with potting soil and manure.  Around the edges plant water loving plants like iris, red twig dogwood, ferns, azaleas and rhododendrons

If you have natural water runoff from a slope, one solution is to design a dry creek bed leading to the rain garden.  A shallow trench lined with rocks can be made to look very natural and if kept weed free, beautiful and useful.  You may have a natural area that always remains wet and if it is in a desirable spot can simply plant around it.

 Plant list for rain gardens in California