Ready to Make a Rain Garden?

Welcome. We hope the tips and information in this section will be helpful to you in the process of creating a rain garden.  

A “Perfect” Garden?"

First off, we will be describing an “ideal” rain garden. But of course, we recognize that perfection cannot always be achieved—your lot may be too small, contoured oddly or your soil may need major modifications to make a perfect rain garden.

The point is, any rain garden is better than no rain garden. For example, we’ll tell you how to calculate size so that your rain garden can probably handle 100% of the runoff from your property. But if you can’t make a garden that big, a rain garden that can handle any part of your rain runoff will still be a great contribution to restoring clean water in your neighborhood, your city, and your region. Similarly, we’ll recommend plants native to Michigan as being the most suitable, but if your budget is tight or the plants are not readily available, you may be able use some existing plants from your yard and add the superb native species later.

If you don’t have a rain garden, runoff from your rooftops, lawns, and driveways will continue, with rain and snow melt, contributing to water pollution rather than curing it, as nature intended. Every little bit that you can keep on your property helps!

Remember, rain gardens can be an integral part of our stormwater management and environmental approach. Their use doesn't involve a lot of centralized planning. They don't require much space, can be fitted into oddball shapes, and can readily added to existing buildings. They look nice, and you don't need to be an engineer to build one. Anyone can make a rain garden -- including you!

Ready to begin your garden? Go on to "Before Starting."

Would you like to download the Create A Garden pages as a printable PDF? Right click here and select "save target as". Can't read PDF? Click here to get adobe acrobat reader.