Lawns and Landscapes - Rain Gardens
Research shows that rain gardens are remarkably effective at treating phosphorus from stormwater runoff — on an individual or larger commercial scale. Luckily, rain gardens are also fairly easy to install and even easier to maintain, and they’re pretty, too!
Look below to see how we created our own rain garden, or for more detailed information check out our publication ”Adding a Rain Garden to Your Landscape: Landscapes for Maine,” Bulletin #2702, complete with sample designs. Click on the image to the left to visit our Publications website, where you can order a hard copy of this bulletin or download it for free.
Additionally, we have developed trainings on Rain Gardens for Maine Garden Day and other venues. This training is available on request to lake or gardening groups. Contact Laura Wilson at (207)581-2971 for more information or requests.
Cleaning up our own act…
Here at University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s Water Quality office, 495 College Avenue, we are very good at telling people how to maintain their landscape to prevent water pollution. However, runoff from our own parking lot was eroding a channel in our landscape! We took action!
Issues we needed to deal with included
- access to the shed;
- snow plowed into this area during winter; and
- A LOT of water that comes off the parking lot during rainstorms.
We included plantings of trees, shrubs, perennials, and groundcover to stabilize the eroding slope, a rock-lined trench to carry water from the parking lot, and a rain garden to capture and infiltrate the water. Also included is a curved path from the parking lot to the shed, and grassy areas on flat terrain.
Parking lot leading to rain garden
The rain garden :
Rain garden at my office
Rain Garden
