Coastal Rain Gardens

Spring bulbs in rain garden

A little over a year ago, I wrote about dealing with our heavy rainfall on the coast of Oregon and mentioned in that post the idea of "rain gardens."  Then last summer I had the opportunity to attend a workshop hosted by Oregon State University on this topic, and wanted to share this idea a little further with readers.

The basic idea of a rain garden addresses this problem: too much of our heavy rainfall comes all at once in a large "event," and rushes across impermeable surfaces like roofs, sidewalks, parking lots and driveways, then flows directly into the storm sewers (or nearby water bodies) without any filtration.  When this happens, lots of pollutants including fertilizers and motor oil are swept along with the water, requiring treatment if they make it to the sewer system, or just polluting the water bodies if it flows there directly.

If instead we create a mechanism to slow down the water flow, and cause it to slowly drain through layers of soil, plants and rock, it is much cleaner by the time it gets to its final destination and reduces our need for storm sewer treatment capacity.

Flagstone set into a permeable rock/sand base
provides additional area for infiltration

So the rain garden is simply a designed area which intentionally collects water that might otherwise flow from your downspouts to the storm drain, or across a large paved area, and directs it to an attractive planted feature which can contain the likely amount of water from a single "event" and let it filter through slowly.

"Stream" catches water from center
downspout & sidewalk

Benefits of the rain garden obviously include improved water quality and a reduction in the need/cost of storm water treatment.  Other less obvious benefits to the homeowner might include a very attractive landscape feature including grasses, shrubs and flowering perennials; wildlife habitat when using carefully chosen native species; turning a difficult area of the yard into a useful landscape feature; and preserving your structures from additional erosion or mud-splash by directing the flow elsewhere.

Commercial rain garden installation

A terrific guide is available from Oregon State University (free) to help homeowners, builders and landscapers  design rain gardens into their ecologically-friendly landscapes.  This guide is very thorough including design specifications and plant lists, so I'm providing here some photos of local examples.  The tiny residential rain garden is in my front yard, installed last fall.  The larger, commercial project is located at our new fire station and the garden is about 3 years old.

Note the curb cuts which allow parking
lot to drain into rain garden

Looking north: varied planting includes
Oregon grape, purple-osier willow, vine maple and rushes

Further reading--

After the Storm

At long last, this morning brings blue sky and a sunny forecast for several days.  This after weeks of stormy weather raged throughout the northwest, including Oregon's central coast.

This time of year typically brings high winds and plenty of rain to our part of the Pacific coastline, but in the last few weeks we also witnessed extra-low temperatures and record rainfall.  Many gardeners will now be venturing out to inspect the damage.

Obvious victims include the broken branches of large trees, though after last December's "big" windstorm the trees had been somewhat thinned in advance.  On the coast we received a dose of snow and ice along with everyone else, but were spared the heavier coating of freezing rain that really did a number on Willamette Valley oaks and maples.

Another noticeable change here is the sudden loss of leaves on hydrangeas and hardy fuchsias, both common shrubs in our area.  It's a shocking sight at first, every leaf drooping after the sudden freeze, and some gardeners will be tempted to respond with a hard pruning.  However it will be wise to remember that in the Valley these shrubs would have already lost their leaves in late fall, and are generally able to recover just fine without our intervention.  Dormant buds will provide next year's leaves and flowers, and indeed pruning the hydrangeas hard will likely leave you with a green bush and no flowers come summertime.

Broken branches should be removed on trees and shrubs-- remember it's always OK to prune the three "D's" -- dead, diseased, defective branches.  Use good pruning techniques, with sharp clean shears or saw, sparing the branch collar but making sure not to leave a long stub.  It's still too early to prune roses, even here on the coast, as the hard pruning normally done in February will stimulate the plant to push new growth that will be vulnerable to more winter weather.  Best to lightly trim long branches -- or even tie them together-- to withstand winter winds, then do your rose pruning in mid- to late-February.  President's Day is a good way to remember.

Enjoy the fine weather we have coming this week, but remember to take it easy on your plants that have survived the first of winter's storms.  Inspect for damage, prune prudently, do what you can to prevent further wind/frost damage.   Next up:  seed catalogs and ordering for spring