2002 Parade of Homes Features Rain Gardens

Dane County congratulates the Madison Area Builders Association and the contractors throughout our county who are committed to providing their customers with beautiful, well-built homes with environmentally friendly features.

One great example "on parade" this year was the rain garden that graces the yard of one of this year's parade homes. The Parade featured the rain garden at 1008 Franconia Court in the Savannah Village subdivision. This is a cooperative project of Dane County Land Conservation Department, McKay Nurseries, developer Don Tierney, Dane County Lakes and Watersheds, Summit Design/Builders, Supervisor Eileen Bruskewitz, and homeowners Sandy and Mike Voica.

"Think globally and act locally" is a good motto to keep in mind when it comes to protecting our lakes and streams. Individual actions-good and bad-have an enormous, cumulative impact on the waters. Rain gardens are a great example of how individual homeowners can make a big difference-with very little investment and a beautiful addition to their yards, to boot.

Rain gardens are landscaped areas-dug down three or four inches to two feet and planted with native flowers, wetland species, and other vegetation-which, because of their design and positioning in the yard soak up 30% more water than a comparable patch of lawn.

Why is that important? Because the water from rain or snow fall that runs off our roofs and off our yards, into our streets and eventually through the storm drain system to our lakes is untreated, and carries with it all sorts of pollutants like fertilizers, oil from the street and pet waste. Holding back the runoff by allowing it soak into the ground in rain gardens, helps improve the water quality in our lakes, can reduce the chances for local flooding and also helps reduce bank and shoreline damage.

Such a complex and important mix of environmental benefits is accomplished by devoting a small amount of space, time and money to the creation of a rain garden. There are only a couple of key decisions you'll need to make: the size of the garden, its location, the mix of native plants and vegetation you'll put in and whether you build it yourself or hire a professional landscaping company to help you.

Rain gardens should be positioned to receive water from downspouts or at a low-point in the lawn where drainage naturally occurs. More native forbs should be used rather than grasses-remember, it's a garden, not a prairie. While the plants grow, you'll need to hoe a bit to keep down weeds but a mature rain garden is delightfully easy to maintain. The simpler you keep your design the more involved you can be in both planning and building the garden. But increasingly, driven by consumer demand and interest, there are many professional landscapers and horticulturists who are in the business of designing and building rain gardens.

Visiting well-designed gardens can give you ideas and talking to folks who have them can provide helpful tips on how to do it right.