Description and Benefits of Rain Gardens
A rain garden is a specialized landscape design that captures stormwater runoff from roofs, driveways, or other impervious surfaces and allows water to sink back into the ground, removing pollutants and improving infiltration.
When to Use Rain Gardens
A rain garden design can be as simple as a shallow depression filled with plants that can grow in both moist and dry conditions. The required size, shape, and depth of the garden depend on how much water you are trying to capture. For large amounts of runoff or areas with insufficient infiltration, there are a full spectrum of engineered features, such as specialized soil mixtures, an aggregate base, and subsurface drains that can be added. These more complex designs are often referred to as bioretention cells.
