Rain Garden Packages:  Handle the Rain Water Running Off Your Impervious Surfaces

Last week I met with Ryan Gorretta of West Coast Natives about building a rain garden in my front yard. West Coast Natives has come out with a rain garden package that bridges the gap between hiring a landscaper and doing it all by yourself.  And in my case, I have the ability to build gardens on my own, but sometimes I need a little inspiration and support.

I have a front yard that despite my efforts over ten years, still has a little lawn and I was looking for a no-maintenance garden plan.  I want to get rid of that so there is no more mowing.  In addition I want to filter the rain water off my roof – an impervious surface – and naturally filter it by building a rain garden.  In this way the rain water is not simply going into the storm water system, pollutants and all.  Ryan explained, “If your roof is 1000 sq ft and it rains one inch, 600 gallons of water will be running off of your roof and into the storm drain.” Add to that all the other impervious surfaces such as sidewalks and driveways and that’s a lot of rain water. A rain garden can naturally solve that issue. All you need to do is calculate how big the rain garden should be.