Marketing Problems For Rain Gardens

**J* B* <j*@usol.com>**

I thought there might be some interest in my blog entry for today.

Rain Gardens Revealed!
I finally understand what it takes to construct a rain garden.  Nancy  
and I spent a morning this week listening to several experts on the  
subject.  We came away with the concern that the “rain garden  
enthusiasts” are taking the same path as was taken by the first  
organic gardeners and the folks into native plants.  Here are the  
rules.  You can’t break our rules.  Yes, it takes a lot of work but  
that’s the way it is, so deal with it.  They are limiting their  
market to a very small percentage of the population.

In other words, we don’t think the rain garden, as proposed by the  
folks here in Detroit is going to go very far.  It is a wonderful  
concept and one that is desperately needed in virtually every  
community in this country, but we think it is already doomed by rigid  
minutia.

We learned that the Kansas City government has decided to support the  
construction  of 10,000 rain gardens in the city over the next five  
years.  We have to look into how they are motivating their citizens  
to jump on that band wagon.  It is certainly an ambitious and  
righteous goal.

One of the problems we saw here in Detroit, and I’ve seen it in many  
articles in the literature is that the rain garden has become linked  
to native plants.  The impression one gets is that you can’t have a  
true rain garden unless it is planted with natives.  That is a  
mistake in our view.  The concept and function of a rain garden  
should stand alone.  You can plant anything you want in your rain  
garden as long as the plants can live in a mix of 60% finished  
compost and 40% sharp sand (builder’s sand), covered with three  
inches of wood chip mulch.

Another problem that became clear at this seminar was that in most  
cases, the rain garden area needs to be dug out 3 to 4 feet deep,  
unless it is already very sandy. That is a lot of work and often  
requires a back hoe.  The space is then filled with the compost and  
sand mixture that drains very well and still holds water at the same  
time.  We see articles about simply planting water loving plants in  
the wet area and call it a rain garden.  Not so.  The function of a  
rain garden is to help reduce the amount of storm water going into  
any sewer system.  The garden is positioned to handle the water  
coming off the roof or the water running down the driveway.  Just  
planting some water loving plants in wet clay does not do anything  
except maybe create a pretty garden to look at.

What we need to do is translate the design of a rain garden into a  
bunch of very flexible choices, so most folks can buy into it once  
they decide they can do something about excess rain water into the  
sewer system.

Jeff Ball
jeffball@usol.com
810-724-8581
Check out my daily blog at www.gardeneryardener.blogspot.com
Check out my extensive web site at www.yardener.com

_______________________________________________
gardenwriters mailing list
gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters

GWL has searchable archives at:
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters

Send photos for GWL to gwlphotos@hort.net to be posted
at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos

Post gardening questions/threads to
&quot;Gardenwriters on Gardening&quot; &lt;gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org&gt;

For GWL website and Wiki, go to
http://www.ibiblio.org/gardenwriters