Discover Rain Gardens

A Kansas City, Missouri, initiative provides inspiration for cleaner, greener community landscapes.

Photography by Bruce N. Meyer

When urban landscapes replace any natural terrain, rain must find a new path to streams and wetlands, often traveling along roads, parking lots, and rooftops rather than soaking into the soil. Along the way, this runoff collects pollutants, such as grease and oil, before entering waterways, compromising water quality, and threatening wildlife. Managing stormwater is a major concern for cities large and small, and many—including Kansas City, Missouri—are turning to rain gardens for help.

Based on a rather simple concept, rain gardens are slight depressions in the soil, usually a few yards in diameter, filled with native plants that will absorb rain more effectively than most common landscaping techniques. While cutting down on runoff, a rain garden serves as a natural filter for rainwater, which seeps through the garden’s soil and back into the water table. By soaking up standing water, rain gardens also eliminate many breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

When Kansas City introduced its 10,000 Rain Gardens initiative in 2005, the city was troubled with flooding due to the runoff from heavy storms. Waste products and contaminants in storm-sewer overflow threatened waterfowl and fish in area streams and rivers and made lakes unsuitable for recreation. The city currently has approximately 1,000 public and private rain gardens, but the ambitious goal of 10,000 comes closer to reality each year, encouraged by the efforts of community programs that continue to introduce the concept to homeowners and businesses. Kansas City’s public rain gardens are open to visitors, and a July home tour offers a glimpse of residential gardens. Visit www.rainkc.com for more information on the Kansas City program.

Good To Know

Build your own rain garden at home. Kansas City’s 10,000 Rain Gardens Web site offers custom garden designs as well as step-by-step instructions for planning, prepping, and planting your rain garden. Go to www.rainkc.com/HomeGardens.

Let it Rain!

These native plants won’t cower when the forecast calls for wet weather.

bee balm (Monarda didyma ‘Jacob Cline’): Zones 4–9
cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis): Zones 2–9
blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium): Zones 3–9
crinkled hair grass (Deschampsia flexuosa): Zones 3–8
false sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides): Zones 3–9
‘Moonbeam’ threadleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam’): Zones 3–9
New England aster (Aster novae-angliae): Zones: 3–9
purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea): Zones 2–10
goldenrod (Solidago rugosa): Zones 3–9
Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia): Zones 5–9
smooth aster (Aster laevis): Zones 3–8
smooth penstemon (Penstemon digitalis): Zones 3–9
corkscrew rush (Juncus effusus ‘Spiralis’): Zones 4–10
spike blazing star (Liatris spicata): Zones 3–10
swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata): Zones 3–8
switch grass (Panicum virgatum): Zones 2–9
white turtlehead (Chelone glabra): Zones 3–8
wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis): Zones 3–8
wild geranium (Geranium maculatum): Zones 3–8

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