Rain Garden Tour: Benefits + Comprehensive Design Tips

What is a rain garden and what purpose does it serve in a backyard garden, permaculture system, or food forest? Here is a comprehensive tour of my rain garden in Portland, OR. Design tips and plant lists included.
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Xera Plant Nursery: www.Xeraplants.com
Gunnera photo used out of the Creative Commons:
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[@ren8240]

I love the Rhubarb where it is, from a visual perspective it adds interest & contrast to the smaller leaved plants!

[@sjsmith9637]

I appreciate your mentioning things you would do differently.

[@marylandsharona]

Thanks for making this video. It's hard to find rain garden vids that has so much good info.

[@ipomoeaalba936]

4:30 "No extra dirt...."❤

[@nickaa121212]

Beautiful garden.

[@innerstrg1]

I love the way you think. The result is very beautiful! Thank you for sharing.

[@wendyburgess2962]

Thanks for your Videos Angela. It’s a great way for me to unwind after spending much time creating my Food forest.

[@debbieschaffner2581]

So much good, useful info! Thank you for showing how you installed the gravel and created the flow of water, then described what plants you have used. Just what I was looking for! Thanks!

[@oliverg6864]

Love your T-shirt, pride d&d theme! We have a rain garden too, a little different from yours as ours is more of a pond. We created it to make use of the water where our sump pump is constantly pumping. We have cattails happily growing there, which always tends to surprise visitors! There's also some swamp milkweed and joe pye :)

[@nmnate]

In the next couple of years I'm going to put in a rain garden off of the back of our house. While we don't get inundated with water like you would in the PNW, we do get a bit of erosion with our seasonal monsoon. I plan on putting a swale / berm in that runs for about 2/3 of the property (maybe 80') that overflows into a zuni bowl at either end. I think it'll be a fun project but it's going to be a bit of work. I like your perspective on applying the principles in a way that work for your specific property. I think a lot of folks get turned off by the perception that permaculture rigidly constrains the design for a property, but really it should be extremely flexible. Sometimes space constraints, soil, moisture, and topology heavily influence layout in a way that may not appear "perfect" to an outsider that doesn't see those.

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

My rain garden also has a rain barrel, I combined the two. From the gutter the rain water first comes in de the barrel. But almost at the top of the barrel there's a hole. When the rain barrel is filled and there's more water, it flows through the hole in a small gutter, to the rain garden. It's only a small rain garden, at the end of the small gutter (made out of ceramic roof tiles) the water hardly even flows. It quickly sinks in the sandy soil. But a few plants enjoy it, including the rhubarb that's just behind the 'wet feet' part.

[@irishlizzie]

Genius!

[@hannahleanne3330]

Beautiful garden! I’m hoping to do something like this soon! ❤❤

[@nicolevbrenner2944]

This is only the second video of yours that I've watched (so far), and I just have to say I love seeing a Critter in the wild. Don't forget to love each other! I'm just starting my permaculture journey and am looking forward to the rest of your videos. Cheers!

[@annepahler8726]

Your tips are always so very useful, thanks a lot.

[@krisbrubaker4245]

Angela, I'm wondering if all of the swales in your yard are 3' deep or just in your rain garden. And if you are marrying the concept of a permaculture style swale with a French drain? I'd also like to know if you have swales throughout your garden or just in certain areas. It would be nice to see a video with more in-depth information. Thank you. :)

[@rhondawelker6742]

Thank you, Angela, for all of the good information. I loved seeing the detail of your rain garden. 😃

[@yousuck425]

I have learned so much from your channel! Thanks for sharing and teaching this

[@donnavorce8856]

Very nice. Thank you for sharing your ideas. I will try to follow the concepts for my rain garden/pond project this spring.

[@vsancerni]

Loved it. Super handy ideas. Thanks a lot!!

[@kitdubhran2968]

Thank for this. I have a seasonal wet area that I’d like to plant out to keep it from just turning to grass over and over again. This was super helpful.

[@stevenplant4265]

Starting my rain garden this year to take the water away from my new bought house. I liked your video. very supportive, informative and relaxing.

[@katiebellile7822]

This video was so helpful

[@ahartman5564]

Nice info, love the critical role shirt ❤️

[@jackieinflorida3179]

Looks awesome! I’m inspired.❤

[@AntMelz]

Good gracious your yard is amazing. It looks wild to me but you have it very organized.

[@yangweijen]

Thank you for sharing your rain garden design, it inspire me a lot!

[@Iris_van_Vulpen]

Oh... I searched for Gunnera after you mentioned it. Now I want one! 😅 And I think it might be just on the other side of the road. There's a plant with huge leaves wich I didn't recognise. I think it might be one.

[@alexc1105]

Does it look like a small dinosaur might appear from underneath it at any second? If so it might be... unless it's giant hogweed... in which case anything that touches it will know... best of luck. A xx

[@betsyphillips6649]

Love your critters T-shirt! 🫶

[@chiomascharm4596]

This is an awesome video! So much info thank you 💜

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

You are so welcome!

[@cindiwhite5726]

Thank you Angela for your informative videos, I'm always looking forward to the next one. I'm curious if you have a natural slope on your property that was conducive to adding your rain garden and swales there, or if you dug your pathway down to create a slope? Thank you.

[@coroshah7344]

Thanks Angela! Great tips👍🏼

[@tere11]

This is so helpful. Thank you ❣️

[@lmgorbea1]

That’s a very clever and beautiful design! I have a question, how do you deal with mosquitoes? I have thick vegetation with mulch close to my house and that brings pollinators, but also a lot of mosquitoes after any rain event.

[@viviant701]

Very clever!!!

[@Mhorianna]

I love this idea, but I'm afraid that it won't be possible on my land. The farthest point of my backyard is the highest point of the land, and it goes caddy corner to the opposite front corner, already terraced. As soon as we move in I'm going to have to channel it away from the house's foundation, but how I'm going to get it to the high point is a thought process that has lead to dead ends.

[@alexc1105]

I'm sure you have a good answer, but why not have a gutter, which goes into a rain barrel which overflows into a rain garden?

[@dankeener3307]

Agree. I like having a barrel of water for multiple uses, including watering indoor plants. 🌱

[@maryhoffman9551]

So good to see your rain garden design! Is the gravel channel (the 3 ft. deep part) also a walking path?

[@BroadShouldersFarm]

Do you have any idea if Gunnera is edible for poultry? I have room to grow it, but am always looking for forage and feed plants for my ducks, chickens, and geese. I’ve not been able to find any info on it.

[@misaventuras6995]

It was only $65 to fill that 3 feet deep gutter? Were did you get the pebbles?

[@twooldcrowshomestead]

I love this. I am new to permaculture and taking a course. This is probably a weird question, but how do I know I need a rain garden? I live in south central KY, not sure if that matters.

[@dankeener3307]

A good question. If any rainwater is leaving your property during a rain event then it’s a good idea to think about how the water can be slowed or held so it can soak into the soil on your property. I have 7 such features on our property. Two of my features actually collect runoff from my neighbor’s driveway and roofs and from runoff along our street heading to the drain at the end of the street. Be sure to keep features at least 10 feet from your house if you have a basement.

[@Crew4Life]

Do you have a weed barrier under the river bed gravel?

[@squashfold4541]

Swag moment