Re: Rain Garden Redoux (sp?)

**l*@juno.com**

Sorry Jeff,

You've oversimplified the concept of stormwater gardens. They generally
do not "move" water, but rather hold it in an engineered basin of one
sort or another: Detention, retention, or infiltration, for the purpose
of allowing it to recharge groundwater without flood, erosion, or other
environmental damage. I've also seen them called bio-retention basins.
Generally they exist because they are a trade-off for destroying some
other native habitat on the property, in order to build the development.
Hence, the desire for native vegetation. A properly planted (wet-loving
plants that can stand in water at the bottom; dry-tolerant plants that
can withstand an occasional deluge at the top) basin is filled with
wildlife -- frogs, salamanders, turtles, snakes, butterflies,
dragonflies, birds, and small mammals. You won't get the same thing with
exotics. The replacement of native habitat is the purpose of the
stormwater garden.

To further complicate matters, there are both wet basins and dry basins.
Wet basins are somewhat like a large pond (no fish allowed) and are meant
to contain water all of the time. During dry periods, water may have to
be added to keep a wet pond biologically balanced to perform the work it
is meant to do. Dry basins are the more typical detention, retention, or
infiltration basin that dries out after holding and releasing the water
over a period of several days to a week.

Thanks for providing a forum for me to spread the word. Gardening mags
don't seem interested in this topic, even though it affects hundreds of
thousands of homeowners through their homeowners' associations.

Regards,
Lois J. de Vries

On Mon, 6 Aug 2007 15:37:11 -0400 Jeff Ball <jeffball@usol.com> writes:
> I posted a blog entry last week about my thoughts a about something  
> 
> called ?rain gardens?.  I simultaneously posted the piece on this  
> listserv. I got some really good feedback which I will try to  
> summarize.  GWL is a great group!
> 
>   Rain Garden vs. Storm Garden vs. Bog Garden Confusion
> 
> There was a strong distinction made between rain gardens/bog gardens 
>  
> and storm gardens.
> 
>   Storm gardens are specifically designed to redirect storm water,  
> 
> often in large amounts.  The storm garden is usually large and is  
> most often constructed by a landscaping company using guidelines 
> from  
> state or local government.  The storm garden appears to be first a  
> 
> mechanism to redirect water and second a place to grow plants.
> 
>   A Rain Garden in most views is what we have for years called a Bog 
>  
> Garden.  This is a garden that is placed in an area that is either  
> 
> always a bit wet (like a bog) or gets hit with a lot of water in a  
> 
> short time such as an area at the base of a rain spout draining rain 
>  
> off a roof.  A rain garden in this context then is not designed to  
> 
> move large amounts of storm water.  It is designed to be a site 
> where  
> water loving plants can thrive and if it slows down the movement of  
> 
> rain off the roof, so much the better.
> 
>   I now understand that the seminar I attended, dealing with ?rain  
> 
> gardens? was really about ?storm gardens?.
> 
> Not to be unexpected, I got stomped gracefully about my comments  
> concerning the implied requirement that rain gardens or storm 
> gardens  
> should be planted exclusively with native plants.  The only argument 
>  
> I can find for such a position is that native plants often have very 
>  
> deep root systems which are assumed to be able to help remove more  
> 
> water; I don?t buy that assumption, but who?s counting?  I go for a  
> 
> mix of natives and exotics.  The natives are more important to  
> support birds, insects, and other critters needed for a balanced  
> ecosystem.  Don?t hit me, but I think the exotics are usually more  
> 
> attractive.
> 
>   What became very clear from the many comments from fellow garden  
> 
> writers was that government at the local, county, state and federal  
> 
> levels have no agreement on the definition of terms nor any clue  
> about any standardized, proven engineered techniques for dealing 
> with  
> the redirection of storm water using storm gardens.  I have no idea  
> 
> who should help these poor bureaucrats get their act together; there 
>  
> is probably no hope to avoid 50 different sets of laws requiring 
> only  
> 20 different approaches to the problem.
> 
>   So here is my shot at a set of definitions
> 
> Storm Garden ? any garden designed to, in some manner, redirect 
> large  
> volumes of storm water away from the municipal storm sewer system.   
> 
> The plants used in a storm garden are not relevant to whether it can 
>  
> perform its function.  They just make the garden aesthetically  
> acceptable.
> 
>   Rain Garden ? A relative of the bog garden, this garden is a  
> residential scale garden located to serve as a absorber of rain 
> water  
> coming off a roof or down a driveway.  Again the design is first to  
> 
> handle a fairly large surge of water in a short period of time, but  
> 
> then have plants that can handle living in a wet environment for at  
> 
> least a few days.  Again I see no need to specify the exclusive use  
> 
> of native plants.  The plants just have to be able to handle wet 
> feet.
> 
>   Bog Garden ? This is a residential garden that can be located  
> anywhere.  Its design requires that various techniques and materials 
>  
> are used to keep the soil in the garden on the moist to wet  
> condition.  In this wet environment, only bog plants or water loving 
>  
> plants will grow.  Removal of storm water or even rain water is not 
> a  
> function of the design of the bog garden.
> 
>   Maybe everyone else is still upset but I feel better.
> 
>   Jeff
> 
> 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
> 
> 
> 
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