What is a Rain Garden?

Rain gardens are gardens that are built to counter the adverse effects that urbanization has on the water cycle. A rain garden collects storm water runoff from impervious surfaces and retains it, and then allowing it to infiltrate into the ground. This reduces the amount of runoff to the storm drains and at the same time replenishes the ground water supply. In addition to this, rain gardens are planted to be aesthetically pleasing habitats that attract animal and insect life. To see why this is a good thing for urban areas, let's take a quick look rainfall and storm water management.
The Water Cycle
A Little Fall of Rain
Making your own rain garden
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