March 10, 2010
Steven Rodie
Steven Rodie knows his way around a rain garden. As a landscape horticulture specialist and associate professor in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, his research is focused on the enhanced quality of life potential associated with well designed, environmentally sensitive landscapes.
What advice does he have for the average homeowner interested in pursuing an alternative to conventional landscaping? Do your homework before you do your digging. Below, Rodie – who is based on the University of Nebraska at Omaha campus, takes on five common misconceptions people have about rain gardens.
Misconception # 1:
Standing water in rain gardens can help breed mosquitoes.
Rodie:
Rain gardens are designed to drain in less than 24 to 48 hours, which eliminates the potential for mosquito problems. The better the soil drainage, and the faster they drain (even down to 12 hours), the wider the variety of plants that will thrive in the garden.
Misconception #2:
Rain gardens will work in any soil as long as the soil is tilled and improved (amended with sand or compost) to help it drain well.
Rodie:
Adding organic matter or compost to any soil, especially soils that naturally drain slowly (soils high in clay content or compacted soils, for example), will help improve drainage and texture. Sand should never be added to clay soil; concrete will be the result. Regardless of how deeply a garden can be dug and amended, if the underlying soil texture does not provide adequate drainage (the rule-of-thumb is 0.25 inches of water per hour or six inches per day), then another location for the garden is typically recommended.
Misconception #3:
Only plants that are native to the Omaha region will grow well in rain gardens.
Rodie:
Native plants are typically well-adapted to local growing conditions, provide high habitat value, reflect the beauty of Nebraska landscapes, and are good garden choices. But there are many adapted plants from outside the region that also work well. The key distinction for selecting rain garden plants isn’t just native status; native or not, plants should be deep-rooted, which helps infiltrate more water into the soil. They also should be adaptable to variable growing conditions, have seasonal interest (flowers, fruit, seeds and color) throughout the year and be non-invasive.
Misconception #4:
Only plants that require wet growing conditions will thrive in a rain garden.
Rodie:
Plants located in the bottom of a rain garden may stand in water on occasion, but they must also tolerate long periods of drought. Plants on the sides of the garden will vary between occasionally wet soil and dry conditions. Plants on the tops of the soil mounds (berms) that catch and hold water in the rain garden, as well as plants planted outside the garden in surrounding landscape beds, will never stand in water and experience growing conditions similar to standard landscape plantings.
Misconception #5:
Rain gardens require lots of maintenance and can look weedy.
Rodie:
Rain gardens, if well-designed, should not take any more maintenance than traditional landscape beds that contain native and adapted plants. Gardens can look weedy if plants grow too tall and flop over; too many plant varieties are used; plants aren’t planted in masses or are not allowed to grow together; or gardens don’t have defined edges. By using relatively short plants in scale with the garden size, placing taller plants in the middle of the garden, maintaining well-defined edges, repeating plants in multiple garden locations, and selecting plants that provide year-round interest, rain gardens can make beautiful, relatively low-maintenance additions to any landscape setting.
The City of Omaha is offering a series of workshops on how to create and maintain rain gardens and other sustainable landscapes later this month. Rodie will serve as one of the workshop instructors. The cost is $20 per person, which includes a take-home rain garden manual developed by the City of Omaha through a grant from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. The workshop dates, times and locations are as follows:
Saturday, March 20
9:00am to noon
Metropolitan Community College, Fort Omaha Campus, Building 7
30th and Fort streets
Thursday, March 25
6:30 to 9:30pm
Douglas County Extension Office
8015 W. Center Road
Saturday, March 27
9:00am to noon
Douglas County Extension Office
8015 W. Center Road
To register, email greengardens@lovgren.com or call Nancy at 397.7158. For more information about Rodie’s research, visit http://www.agronomy.unl.edu/newfacultystaff/directory/rodie.html.