CLEAR’s NEMO program recently partnered with the Connecticut Fund for the Environment‘s Save the Sound program to create a rain garden “how to” website, focused on helping Connecticut and New England homeowners build their own rain garden. The Rain Gardens website is meant to be a companion site to both the CT NEMO website and Save the Sound’s new Reduce Runoff website.
The Rain Gardens website has detailed information about what a rain garden is and why they are so important. The site is divided into easy to follow steps including how to pick a location and size, check the soil, select plants, how to properly install them, and how to maintain the garden both in the short-term and long-term. The site also features videos that discuss each step, a “cost calculator” to help estimate the cost of installing a garden, and a database of mostly native plants ideal for a rain garden in the Northeastern U.S. Plants can be searched based on several factors including type of plant (perennial, grass, shrub, tree) bloom color and sun exposure preferred. Plants fitting the criteria are then listed along with an image, height and width (full grown), seasonal bloom times and any additional notes specific to a particular plant.
Check out the site at http://nemo.uconn.edu/raingardens to start planning your rain garden today.