Pondering My Rain Garden on a Rainy February Day

Our meteorologist predicted 55°F today. It’s been raining steadily since the middle of the night, but the snow has not all washed away; it’s 41° and mid-afternoon, so I think she got a little optimistic.

I have been in this house a very long time. Back in the early 90s, the floodplain crept onto a corner of my lot. The floodplain keeps moving. The boundary is now halfway up my very narrow front lawn, so when an online Master Rain Gardening class opened up through the Washtenaw County Extension office, I jumped at the chance.

Water used to pool at the road side of the sidewalk across from the near corner of this lawn. Looking out across the mostly completed rain garden today, there is no pool of water. Not bad, as I dug the garden last fall and put in some plants, but the rain gutters have not yet been connected.

Planning a Rain Garden

First, I had to see whether I could squeeze in something big enough to take the runoff from the front half of the house. I could.

So what would I put in? Michigan was forested before the settlers clearcut it, So I decided I wanted something reminiscent of what could have been here, without getting too tall. This garden is downtown.

The big question is the tree, which I drew with a rather optimistic eye towards its future crown size. I’ve pretty well given up on a city tree on the extension. I am hoping to find a Cornus alternifolia, Pagoda or alternate-leaved dogwood, which is a nice little tree that is native to river edges. Reading about it online, I found out that it really likes to be steadily watered, something that makes it a decent rain garden candidate. It may be just the thing, if I can find a nice small one.

Reality Strikes

It took nearly two weeks of daily digging bouts to prepare this garden, but this photo shows what I meant about plans: who knew there were so many roots lurking? They really don’t look like they are coming from that tree next to the silver car, do they?

I left the major roots in place and trimmed out the little stuff. They are a design feature.

The trenches for the rain gutter pipes will be dug when the ground is workable, probably in April, and the rain gutters will be connected directly into the rain garden—with chipmunk-proof screening at the openings. I know; I will probably have to rearrange a little when I connect the gutters, but the plants had a safe overwintering spot. Well, relatively safe—we will see what the rabbits have done when the snow melts.

The bluebells will move in this coming May once they are done blooming in the backyard. I am hoping that coincides with the appearance of the lady ferns. The ferns are in the portion of the X closest to the camera; they will need either a tree or transplanting to a shadier spot.