This morning is the perfect morning to be thinking about Rain Gardens and why they are so important to this city. What is a rain garden? Does my flattened muddy patch get included in this category?

Managing storm water runoff in a built up environment full of impermeable surfaces is a serious issue in a rainy city. The City of Vancouver is using planted areas to absorb rainwater and reduce the flow into the sewers during storms. They call these areas "Rain Gardens" and they are part of a larger Greenways Program. The storm water is chaneled from the street into the designed Rain Gardens where the water is able to gradually soak into the ground. Only the excess water drains into the sewer. This is important to help prevent localised flooding and reduce the overspill in streams.

It all gets really technical and intimidating when you look at the websites that deal with Rain Gardens but you have to remember that they are utlising this natural  system combined with an engineered sewer system at a city level so things need to be done right. This doesn't mean that you can't apply these principles in your home's garden to deal with poorly drained areas. Many gardens at the bottom of the driveway suffer where water runs through during the rainy season washing out all the soil. Use the tricks of the Rain Garden to slow, divert and diffuse the water with free draining soil, rocks and plants to turn this problem area into an innovation.