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Edge Of The Woods Native Plant Nursery, LLC

Specializing in plants native to mid-Atlantic ecosystem

August 16, 2018

Rain Gardens

Rain Garden — Joe Pye Weed, Clethra, and Hibiscus in bloom

We’ve all the heard the expression, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  Here’s the horticultural version: when life gives you rain, make a rain garden.  Then watch the magic happen with pollinators, butterflies, birds, and blooms.

What Is a Rain Garden?

Compared to a patch of typical lawn, a rain garden allows about 30% more water to soak into the ground.  That’s more water for the water table, and less pollution in our streams and rivers.  Much of the pollution in our streams and rivers is carried there by storm water.  A lot of that pollution comes from our homes and yards, such  as fertilizer, pesticide, pet waste, failing septic systems, de-icing salts, heavy metals from roof shingles, and leaking fluids from machinery and automobiles.

Simply put, a rain garden is a collection of plants that doesn’t mind getting really wet sometimes; an attractive, environmentally healthy way to handle some of the pure and not-so-pure water that runs off your roof and property. All you need is s small depression in your yard that collects rain water.

Where to Put Your Rain Garden

Next time it rains, go out with your umbrella and see where the water is going.  Watch which direction the water flows, where it is rushing over turf, where it settles.   There may already be a depression in the ground where the water puddles.  If so, remove the turf, expand the area if you want, and get started.

If water is not collecting anywhere, scout out a spot that will collect water if you dig a shallow depression in the ground – even 6” is enough.  Keep it simple. It does not need to be lined with plastic, and you don’t need to bring in soil or gravel. A simple depression in the ground can suffice.  You can even put it at the base of your downspout.

It will fill with a few inches of water during rainstorms, slowing run-off into storm drains, and allowing the water to slowly filter into the ground.  Any plants you place in the path of the water as it runs across your yard will help slow the runoff. The water that collects in the rain garden will slowly re‐charge the groundwater table. As it seeps down to the groundwater table, pollution and impurities are filtered out.

What to Plant in Your Rain Garden

Fill the depression with an assortment of plants that can tolerate standing water for brief periods of time as well as dry spells.  Your raingarden can be formally edged with stones, or it can blend gradually into the rest of your landscape.  Just be sure it is far enough away from the foundation of your home that it does not cause basement seepage problems, and don’t locate it over a septic field.

Since the water in the garden will be there after rainstorms, but then dry out, you will need plants that can take soggy and dry soil.  You can use all perennials, all shrubs, a few trees, or any combination.

The plants below can tolerate the short periods of standing water that occur in a rain garden, and won’t mind being drier if rain is scarce.  Take note of whether you have sun or shade in your rain garden, and select the plants to match the sunlight.

The plants will provide visual delight through four seasons, and provide habitat for birds and butterflies as well. That’s a win‐win‐win‐win proposition!

Plants for a Rain Garden

Here’s a list of just a few of the plants that will work in a rain garden.  Stop in the nursery today for more choices.  There are MANY.

Redbud tree – Pink flowers, early spring.

FringeTree – Fragrant white fluffy bloom late spring.

Swamp Rose – Brambly carefree rose that sets hips in the fall that are relished by birds.  Aggressive spreader, great for a large area.

Winterberry Holly – Drops its leaves and holds bright red berries through the winter. Berries provide food for birds.

Joe Pye – Mauve blooms that are butterfly magnets.

Swamp milkweed – Well behaved, fragrant milkweed that provides larval food for the monarch butterfly caterpillars.

Golden Alexander– Cheery yellow blooming perennial, moves about by seed and fill in gaps in the moist garden.

Boneset –  White flowers, loved by pollinators.

Cardinal flower – Red flowers.

 

Top: Swamp Milkweed, Heliopsis with Cardinal Flower; Middle: Boneset; Bottom: Winterberry Holly, Buttonbush, JoePye Weed

 

 

Article by Louise Schaefer / Plants

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21 hours ago

Want some blueberries this season? We have some beautiful blueberry bushes that will bear fruit this year.

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23 hours ago

We just released gallon-sized native deciduous and evergreen azaleas/Rhododendrons. Color of flowers is noted after the botanical name :)

Azaleas (deciduous):

Flame azalea (R. calendulaceum) ORANGE
Pinxter azalea (R. periclymenoides) PINK
Piedmont azalea (R. canescens) PINK
Rose shell azalea (R. prinophyllum) PINK
Onocee azalea (R. flammeum) ORANGE
Swamp azalea (R. viscosum) WHITE
Sweet azalea (R. arborescens) WHITE
Coast azalea (R. atlanticum) WHITE

“Rhodies” (evergreen):

Great laurel (Rhododendron maximum) WHITE
‘Roseum Elegans’ (Rhododendron catawbiense ‘Roseum Elegans’) MAGENTA-PINK
‘Boursalt’ (Rhododendron catawbiense ‘Boursalt’) MAGENTA-PINK

We also have limited amounts of some in larger containers:

Great laurel (R. maximum) WHITE
Sweet azalea (R. arborescens) WHITE
Coast azalea (R. atlanticum) WHITE
Flame azalea (R. calendulaceum) ORANGE
Swamp azalea (R. viscosum) WHITE

We also have plenty of mountain laurel left (Kalmia latifolia) including:

Straight species
‘Olympic Fire’
‘Elf’ (dwarf)
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2 days ago
Climate-Wise Landscaping

Replace the seasonal non-native plantings that need to be replaced every few months with native perennial borders. And instead of wide spaces of mulch between the plants, place them close together so that there is little room for weeds. This practice is part of climate-wise landscaping because it reduces soil disturbances, which reduces the carbon released to the air and it reduces the large footprint of repetitive production and transport to supply new plants every season. The perennials will last for many seasons and require much less labor.
www.climatewiselandscaping.com
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2 weeks ago

Trees, trees, and more trees! Oh, and shrubs, shrubs, and yes, more shrubs! We have a wonderful selection of native trees and shrubs available now. Woody plants provide interest all year long, height to the garden, vital habitat for wildlife, and years of satisfaction as you watch your plant grow into a mature specimen! They are the foundation of our greater, forested ecosystem spanning most of eastern North America, which historically covered nearly 100% of Pennsylvania’s landmass. Today, forested land still makes up the majority of Pennsylvania’s total land area, at about 58% coverage. Below are some of the trees we have now, keep an eye for another post soon about shrubs :)

Available now:

*Trees*

Shagbark hickory
Shellbark hickory
Red maple
Sugar maple
Red oak
Willow oak
Black oak
Shumard oak
Pin oak
Beech
Sycamore
Fringetree
Red bud
Carolina silver bell
White pine
Red pine
Virginia pine
Pitch pine
White spruce
Red spruce
Eastern Red Cedar
American linden
Sassafrass
Bald cypress
Franklinia
Sweetbay magnolia
River birch
‘Heritage’ River Birch
Yellow Birch
Mountain ash
... See more

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Richard

Edge of the Woods Native Plant Nursery, LLC
A WBE Certified Woman Owned Business
Promoting Native Plants Since 2003

2415 Route 100, Orefield, PA 18069
(610) 395-2570
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