What do gardening and fairy tales have in common? Goldilocks and the Three Bears comes to mind when trying to describe gardening, especially in the South. It seems rain comes in two amounts—too little or too much. Rainfall is seldom just right. Helen Kraus and Anne Spafford have a solution to this southern gardener's dilemma in Rain Gardening in the South: Ecologically Designed Gardens for Drought, Deluge, and Everything in Between.
Some gardeners don't know about rain gardens and some think they don't like them because of the mistaken idea that these eco friendly spaces are austere and unattractive. Enter Kraus and Spafford with a brilliant plan to change that. And it's all wrapped up in a beautiful package. Rain Gardening in the South is packed to the hilt with very usable information, along with meticulous illustrations and gorgeous photos of a wide array of rain gardens. Put all of these elements together and you have a reference that gardeners will return to season after season.
To be used widely, a gardening concept has to produce beautiful garden landscape, in addition to effectively using the precious resource of water and protecting the environment. Rain Gardening in the South guides the reader through the steps that lead to just that result.
The authors ask and answer, "But what is a rain garden?" Very simply, a rain garden is designed to capture rainfall flowing through your yard (known as runoff), store that water to nurture its plats, and cleanse runoff, thus removing the pollutants it carries with it."
They then explain the concept in detail and walk the would-be rain gardener through the planning, building and planting stages. Very welcome lists of what plants, shrubs and trees will thrive in sun and shade. Also included is a soil primer for those who must deal with less than perfect soil. There is also a section for troubleshooting because any gardener knows that everything doesn't always go as planned.
After reading Rain Gardening in the South, my one regret is that I was not able to read it twenty years ago. But putting the past aside, I think readers will want to take the very timely advice from Helen Kraus and Anne Spafford, "Be the first house in your neighborhood to create one [rain garden]!"
Perhaps there is a fairy tale ending after all, even for gardeners who will always have to deal with too much or too little rain. Rain gardening will help "get it just right."
- Authors: Helen Kraus and Anne Spafford
- Paperback: 143 pages
- Publisher: Eno Publishers (April 30, 2009)
Tip: Get a feel for just how beautiful the book is with a preview of the first chapter.
For more info: Rain Gardening in the South
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