Planting Your Rain Garden

1. Planting Your Rain Garden

2. Are rain gardens wet? The Rain Garden Environment

3. The Rain Garden Environment

4. Emergent Edge Rain Garden Zones Semi-aquatic

5. The Rain Garden Environment • Moisture regime also depends upon site conditions

6. A Citizen’s Guide to Phytoremediation, US EPA, 2001 The Forest Model Rain gardens are designed to imitate forest functions. Stream Corridor Restoration, FISRWG, 1998

7. Surface Hierarchy Pyramid MOST DESIRABLE Multiple Layers of Vegetation Single Layer of Vegetation Mulch Lawn Stones/Gravel Bare Soil Pavement/Roof LEAST DESIRABLE

8. Trees in the Rain Garden

10. Does Your Rain Garden Work? Courtesy Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc.

11. Pollutants in the Rain Garden • Nutrients (Nitrogen and Phosphorus) • Heavy Metals (Copper) • Salt, Deicers, Sand • Car fluids (Gasoline, Antifreeze, Oil, etc.) • Pesticides & Herbicides

12. Adapted to local conditions, including soils & precipitation • Don’t require inputs of chemical fertilizers & pesticides • Save time and money • Provide the habitat wildlife, including pollinators, need • Beautiful! Use Native Plants http://www.nps.gov/plants/pubs/chesapeake/toc.htm

13. Natives Provide Habitat • Food (Year-round) • Water • Shelter • Places to Raise Young

14. A native plant is “a plant that lives or grows naturally in a particular region without direct or indirect human intervention.” USDA PLANTS Database http://plants.usda.gov/

15. An invasive non-native plant is “a species intentionally or accidentally introduced by human activity into a region in which it did not evolve and which aggressively competes with, and displaces, locally adapted native plant communities. Avoid Invasive Plants • Displace native species • Reduce wildlife habitat • Alter ecosystem processes • Maintenance nightmare! Courtesy NPS http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/invspinfo.shtml http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/pubs/midatlantic/toc.htm

16. 10 Rain Garden Plants Black-eyed susan

17. Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica) http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/serviceplantfinder.shtml

18. 10 Rain Garden Plants Winterberry holly

19. 10 Rain Garden Plants Obedient plant Joe Pye weed

20. 10 Rain Garden Plants Black Chokeberry (also Red Chokeberry) Ox-eye sunflower Switchgrass Elderberry Arrowwood viburnum

21. More Winning Plants Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal flower) and Rudbeckia hirta Pycnanthemum virgianum (Slender-leaved mountain mint) Andropogon virginicus (Broomsedge) Chasmanthium latifolium (Upland sea oats) New York ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis) Clethra alnifolia (Sweet pepperbush) Northern bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica) Milkweeds – Asclepias incarnata (swamp) and Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed) Little bluestem, Indian grass, goldenrods, monarda and asters

22. Plant Density • Seeds and Plugs • Better for natural gardens. • Plant plugs @ 1/2 to 1 ft. on center. • Can’t mulch with seed. • Pots • Better for traditional gardens. • Plant 4 inch to 1 gal plants @ 1 to 3 ft. on center

23. A Few Design Tips “A well-designed rain garden doesn’t look like a rain garden.” Rule of 3 – each plant should have at least 3 features to enjoy Plant in clumps of 3 – 7 plants of the same species to create bold color, cohesion and pattern. Use your edges. Create year-round dimension and interest. Plant densely, but consider mature plant size.

24. Courtesy Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc.

26. Downspout Drain

28. Stark Residence Rain Garden

32. Local Rain Gardens • Hidden Oaks Nature Center, Annandale • Green Springs Garden, Alexandria • Audrey Moore RECenter/Wakefield Park, Annandale • Cub Run RECenter, Centreville • U.S. Botanical Garden, Washington, DC • Georgetown Waterfront, Washington, DC • Brookside Gardens, Wheaton

33. Christin Jolicoeur Watershed Planner Arlington County DES 703-228-3588 Cjolicoeur@arlingtonva.us Contact Information