The Garden Bug: Rain Gardens

By Brenda Weaver

Rain gardens are depressions in the landscape that collect water during rainfall. The rain is guided away from structures, flows down an incline to the depression, where it soaks down into the soil instead of flooding across the yard or washing topsoil down storm drains. Pollutants are filtered out as the rain sinks further into the soil and replenishes the aquifers deep underground. More complex rain gardens with drainage systems and amended soils are sometimes referred to as "bioretention."

Sources: www.epa.gov/soakuptherain/soak-rain-rain-gardens , www.uaex.uada.edu/environment-nature/water/conservation/rain-gardens.aspx