While it is true that the plants within a rain garden must be able to survive excess water inundation, they must also be able to thrive during long, dry stretches of heat. For this reason, the ideal plants for rain gardens are natives tolerant of a locality's climate, soil, and water conditions. Whether perennials, grasses, shrubs, or trees, we carry a wide assortment of native plants to create rain gardens and vegetated bioswales that will not only manage and filtrate pollutants from storm water runoff but will attract wildlife and be beautiful, all at the same time. Here's a quick list of some of our suggestions:
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Milkweed (A. incarnata)
Turtlehead (Chelone glabra)
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium maculatum)
Blue Flag (Iris versicolor)
Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida)
Switch Grass (Panicum virgatum)
Tufted Hair Grass (Deschampsia caespitosa)
Not familiar with rain gardens? UConn has a great site - including an iPhone app- that both explains their environmental benefits and makes constructing rain gardens easy. For those looking to choose the appropriate plants for larger, more complex rain gardens, here is a handy list of plants suggested for varying levels of rain events. Or just come into the nursery and talk to us. We'll help you find the right plants for even the most challenging of situations. And remember: rain gardens are not limited to just perennials. Add a few High-bush Blueberry bushes from our Wetland Mitigation section and you have the extra bonus of home-grown fruit - as long as you throw some deer netting over them before the birds and other critters feast on them.
As with any planting, don't forget to water them until well established.
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