My neighbor's rain garden totally changed our flooding problem over 2 years

Back in 2021 our street in Denver would flood bad every time it rained hard, then my neighbor Jean dug out her front yard and planted a native rain garden with deep roots. After 2 years of letting it establish, the water now soaks in instead of running into the street and our sump pumps barely kick on. Has anyone else seen a noticeable difference from putting in something like a rain garden or bioswale near their house?

2 comments

2 Comments

veraramirez4d ago

My buddy in Portland put one in last summer and after the first year it was mostly just pulling a few weeds here and there. By year two the native plants had taken over and choked out anything unwanted.

gonzalez.phoenix4d ago

So after 2 years did you guys have to maintain the rain garden much or did it pretty much take care of itself? I've seen some people put them in around here but a couple let them turn into weed patches and now they're just muddy messes. Was curious how much work Jean actually put into keeping those native plants from going wild.