Following all the rain we’ve had recently, it seems a perfect time to think more about the role rain gardens can play in North Texas landscapes. Recently, I was interviewed again1 by The Dallas Morning News about Rain Gardens: How a rain garden can benefit your North Texas landscape
The article highlights some of the benefits of rain gardens, including erosion and flood control, capturing water to recharge groundwater reserves, improving drainage issues, and mitigating pollution. We also discuss how a rain garden with native plants can be part of a landscape design that is sustainable and wildlife friendly.
Two of the best things we can do for our local ecosystems is to 1) grow native plants and 2) take steps to conserve water and reduce pollution. A rain garden addresses both of these. And we get the benefit of enjoying a beautiful, vibrant landscape!
Water Conservation and Quality
It seems like when it rains in North Texas, it really pours! Each time it rains, the runoff from our landscapes carries pollutants, which can have several devastating effects on our water resources and ecosystems, not to mention our drinking water supplies.
Rain gardens reduce water contamination by keeping water in your landscape instead of overflowing into storm drains. This mitigates flooding and erosion, which create layers of problems for environments and communities.
Rain gardens capture rainwater flowing from impervious surfaces such as roofs, patios, sidewalks, driveways, and overflow from gutters and rain barrels, allowing it to percolate into the soil. Rain garden plants, especially our natives with long root systems, act as natural filters. So, not only do rain gardens help recharge groundwater reserves, but they also help remove pollutants and trap sediments.
By their design, rain gardens reduce the need for supplemental irrigation. They facilitate deep watering, which is generally key for plants to thrive. In making the most of rainwater and using native plants that are best adapted to our local conditions, we can minimize the strain on municipal water resources. This is both good for our pocketbooks and better for the environment.
On top of the greater ecosystem benefits, your landscape plants are happier with rainwater than chemically-treated water.
Rain Garden Design and Dry Stream Beds
Along with native landscapes, rain gardens have long been one of our specialties at Dubberley Landscape. In an often drought-stricken region, it is wise to make the most out of the rain we get.
Plus, rain gardens are a great opportunity to bring a touch of natural beauty to a landscape design, especially when combined with dry stream beds.
Many of our designs incorporate stonework, and dry stream beds are a favorite feature for combining form and function. Once plants come into the picture, the line between dry stream beds and rain gardens can become blurred.
A dry stream bed is constructed with different types of stone. A rain garden doesn’t necessarily have to include stone, but when it does, it can blend beautifully with a dry stream bed. When used together, a dry stream bed can work as a conveyance of water towards a rain garden or for handling the overflow from the rain garden.
Managing Overflow
During any large rain event, like our spring thunderstorms, overflow is inevitable even in a well-designed rain garden. The key is to plan an exit route for the overflow. Ideally, overflow should be directed to a permeable surface that allows the water to seep into the ground. A gravel-lined dry stream bed is an effective solution for handling this excess water.
In my dry stream bed designs, I use a few techniques to better handle high volumes of water. First, curves in the design and strategically placed boulders help slow down the flow of water.
Additionally, instead of excavating the dry stream bed channel uniformly to the same depth, I’ll integrate several deeper depressions, especially at the bends. These lower areas act as holding pools, retaining water in the landscape and enabling it to slowly infiltrate the soil, naturally irrigating the surrounding plants. This approach can essentially create a functional rain garden.
Rain gardens can be standalone garden beds or be connected to a dry stream bed. They can cover a large area or consist of several smaller beds or sections of a dry stream bed.
What makes it a rain garden and not just a dry stream bed is the presence of plants
Plant Selection
Choose plants based on their water needs and the location. As with any type of garden, spacing and sunlight requirements are important. Rain garden plants must also be adapted to the fluctuating conditions they experience. Plants in the bottom or basin of the rain garden need to be able to do well in both dry and wet conditions.
This criterion does narrow down the options, but we still have a wide variety of diverse choices.
Stay tuned for our upcoming Rain Garden Plant Guide, featuring a colorful collection of native perennials, shrubs, and grasses perfect for North Texas rain gardens; plus, insights from a seasoned horticulturist on combining plants to create a harmonious design. Follow us on Facebook or subscribe to the blog below to be notified when this is published.
Featured Design: Rain Garden for Shady Backyard
One of our recent landscape projects was featured in the Dallas Morning News rain gardens article. Taylor Kirkland needed a solution for his steep, shady backyard and the issues this created. A dry stream bed that feeds into a rain garden was the perfect answer to address these problems.
Here’s a video tour of the recently installed project. The rain garden is the end point of the stream bed. It serves as a holding pool to capture water during a rain event.
Note that since this is a newly planted garden, the plants (Texas star hibiscus, beautyberry, and Ruellia) are still fairly small. In time, they will grow to fill the entire space.
And here is a video Taylor took during a torrential rain, showing the stream bed and rain garden in action.
More Rain Gardens Resources
The city of Austin has been advocating for sustainable landscaping, including rain gardens, for over 20 years. They have many useful resources that are also applicable to North Texas.
Here’s a lovely public example of a Dallas rain garden, along with their plant list, at the The Raincatcher’s Garden of Midway Hills.
Some cities offer information on rain gardens and stormwater management, but I would love to see these eco-friendly features more widely embraced in the DFW area. Especially with increasing drought and flooding conditions, we’d all benefit from environmentally aware landscaping using rain gardens and native plants.
If you think a rain garden may be a good addition for your landscape, I’d love to hear from you. I’ve answered some FAQ about rain gardens, but feel free to drop me a line or leave a comment below if you have other questions or are ready to plan a rain garden landscape upgrade.
P.S. We recently updated our Rain Garden gallery with more photos and a new filtering feature.
- The Dallas Morning News interview about landscaping with Native Texas plants ↩︎
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