Cookie House

Rain Garden for a Wet Year – 2013

I planned this garden in February 2013, excavated in March, planted in April and May.  Designed to slow and hold water running down my steep driveway, the garden is about 10 x 25 feet.  We cleared the site of trees and excavated a level-bottomed trough about 18 inches deep (I think of it as a bathtub designed to fill up to the top and drain slowly).  After a soil test, the garden area was filled with 1/3 original topsoil, 1/3 mushroom soil (composted manure), and 1/3 wood mulch and amended with lime.  (More photographs and information to follow).

Plant List

(First links are to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, The University of Texas at Austin; Second are to the Natural Resources Conservation Service Plants Database, USDA)

Grasses, perennials, and ferns

Asclepias tuberosa (Butterflyweed) | NPIN (from seed) 1x

Chasmanthium latifolium (Inland sea oats) | NPIN (transplanted from friend’s garden) 3x

Elymus virginicus (Virginia wildrye) | NPIN (from seed) 3x
Plants Profile for Elymus virginicus (Virginia wildrye)

Echinacea purpurea (Eastern purple coneflower) | NPIN (It may be too wet for this here in the long run) 2x

Eurybia spectabilis (Eastern showy aster) | NPIN (transplanted from my garden) 6x

Iris fulva (Copper iris) | NPIN (transplanted from my yard) 2x

Liatris pycnostachya (Prairie blazing star) | NPIN (transplanted from my garden) 5x

Osmunda cinnamomea (Cinnamon fern) | NPIN (transplanted from my garden)  4x

Pycnanthemum virginianum (Virginia mountain mint) | NPIN (transplanted from my garden) 1x

Schizachyrium scoparium (Little bluestem)|NPIN (from seed) 3x

Sisyrinchium angustifolium (Narrowleaf blue-eyed grass) | NPIN (transplanted from my lawn) 3x

Virgatum (Switchgrass) | NPIN (from seed) 3x

Shrubs

Ilex vomitoria (Yaupon Holly) | NPIN 3x

Itea virginica (Virginia sweetspire) | NPIN (transplanted from a friend’s garden) 1x

Failures

Hydrangea quercifolia (Oakleaf hydrangea) | NPIN (it was too wet – root rot.  But I love this plant and want to find a good place in the yard for another)

Ironweed (groundhogs ate the seedlings, but turns out this plant can spread aggressively through rhizomes).  I plan to replace it with Eutrochium purpureum (Purple joepyeweed) | NPIN

Bibliography and Resources

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center – The University of Texas at Austin (plant list information)

RainGardens.org West Michigan Environmental Action Council (a great How-To site)

Rainainscaping.org Beautiful Solutions to Water Pollution Website developed by RainScaping Campaign: An Environmental Partnership for Stormwater Runoff Solutions for Anne Arundel County, MD

Virginia DCR for native plants and their publications (I used their Piedmont plant lists) http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/nativeplants.shtml

Wildflower Farm (seed source)

Acknowledgements

Piedmont Soil and Water Conservation District for funding and expert assistance.

Mary Prevo, August 2013