Our street's rain garden after one summer - what a change!

Eight months ago our neighborhood planted a rain garden at the end of the block. Before that, heavy storms would send runoff straight into the storm drain and we'd get standing water on the sidewalk. Now after a big rain, I watched the water pool in the garden and soak in over about 20 minutes. The plants - mostly native sedges and swamp milkweed - went from tiny plugs to knee high in that time. It's a small thing, but seeing the difference on one street makes me wonder if more blocks could do this. Has anyone worked with their city to put rain gardens in public right of way areas?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona3321mo ago

Our street's rain garden took about three months to really get going but now I can't believe we didn't do it sooner. Last big storm I stood out there and timed it with my phone stopwatch like a total nerd because I was so amazed. It absorbed all the runoff in about 15 minutes while the neighbors across the street still had a lake in their driveway. I actually had to stop myself from taking a victory lap around the block.

paige5141mo ago

Wait, is timing runoff with a stopwatch really where we're at now with this stuff? @fiona332 I'm glad you're excited but it sounds like the water from your garden still ends up in the same system eventually, right? I just don't get why people act like a little patch of plants is going to fix flooding problems that have been around for decades. My street has some bioswales the city put in and honestly they just get clogged with litter and look ugly half the time. Feels like a drop in the bucket compared to actual drainage infrastructure that costs real money. Not trying to rain on anyone's parade but this seems like a lot of hype over something that's been around forever.