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| South of Grand - Rain Gardens, Dry stream, Drainage and Boulder Terraces |
The latest project we finished began last year and picked up again first thing this spring so that it would look great for summer. The project goal was to fix the drainage issues, beautify the space and do it in an environmentally friendly way. We had a beautiful wooded hillside to start...
...but there were some poor drainage issues and existing landscape to deal with before the homeowners could really enjoy their patio and backyard.
We looked at the slope and how to slow the flow, preventing erosion and managing the runoff before it got to the home. We also leveraged the city stormwater funding for cost share to reduce stormwater coming from the property.
The old paver patio, deer damaged arborvitae screen and edging all came out. The old drain intake which was actually flowing backward was removed. The old clogged lines were replaced with PVC attached to downspouts and a new french style drain was put in to catch whatever runoff the planned rain garden swales miss above.Two rain gardens were constructed to capture and infiltrate rainwater. The rain gardens were designed with small drainage swales to move water across the slope. These were reseeded to blend back into the yard. Any overflow will be directed into the dry stream bed we constructed through the terraced shady planting, along the patio and into a small pool where the new intake drain is located.
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| Swale to move hillside runoff to rain garden with taller sun loving native flowers and prairie grasses |
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| Second swale to part shade rain garden planted with natives, some edible, and overflow into the dry stream |
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| Hillside terraces, dry stream bed and woodland planting |
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| Drain pool with decorative boulders, driftwood and a flagstone bridge across the stream |
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| Plus, a small raised bed Vegetable Garden! |
I'm really excited to see this later in the season when the plantings grow and fill in more!
