Page 53 - 7166 - Rain Garden Handbook

Plant

Rain Gardens are Not 3 47
Places to Grow Food

Remember that rain gardens help to filter pollutants, and
they are not suitable as vegetable gardens. You also should
avoid eating berries, nuts, and other edibles that may be
growing in a rain garden. David Hymel Erica Guttman

Plant Selection, Siting, and Spacing

• Consider a mix of deciduous and evergreen plants for your rain garden to provide
all-season interest.

• Carefully choose plants with their eventual mature size in mind. The rain garden soil Erica Guttman
mix provides an excellent growing medium, so plan on most plants reaching their
mature width and height, perhaps more quickly than in other locations. Space trees,
shrubs, and plants at installation according to their expected mature size.
• Provide good coverage with a mix of trees, shrubs, and groundcover, layered in the
landscape.
• Plants that are too large can require more maintenance later, such as more pruning
and thinning, so choose the right-sized plants from the start.
• Avoid planting within the root zones of existing trees and shrubs.

• If your rain garden is near a roadway, driveway, or intersection, make sure the mature
plants won’t block drivers’ vision.

• If your rain garden is located under overhead power and utility lines, be sure to comply
with maximum height requirements for trees.

• If there are underground utilities near your rain garden, select plants that won’t grow
into and break or block pipes.

• Check out local rain gardens that have been installed for a few years to get ideas.

David Hymel