Rain Gardens
Rain gardens are a great way to help stop erosion and keep sediment and debris out of our lakes.
Rain gardens are landscaped areas planted to native vegetation and wildflowers that soak up rain water allowing the water to slowly seep into the ground instead of running off quickly. Without the rain garden, sediments, pollutants, and other materials could drain into our lakes.
Rain gardens provide benefits in several ways:
Increases the amount of water that filters into the ground recharging the local and regional aquifers.
Helps protect lakes from pollutants - lawn fertilizers, pesticides, oil and other fluids that leak from cars.
Enhances the beauty of your yard.
Provides valuable habitat for wildlife, butterflies and many beneficial insects.
Below is a picture of a rain garden located on Little Boy Lake. It will hold 1.5 inches of rain before the water will spill over the side. Erosion has been reduced to practically zero where it was a problem before the rain garden was created.
Plants included in this rain garden include:
Here is the same rain garden taken two years after initial planting:
The Wisconsin DNR has a great file on creating a rain garden (caution-very large file-4.96MB):