What To Do With A Downpour - Oshawa Garden Club · What To Do With A Downpour: Ornamental Ways To ... Bioretention Gardens and Bioswales Xeriscaping Greenroofing ... Black Gamecock

What To Do

With A

Downpour:

Ornamental Ways To

Handle Rainwater

Why do weneed LID?

Thanks to Chris Denich from Aquifor Beech for this slide and more!

LID (aka Rainscapes)LID means Low Impact Development:

Stormwater PondsRain GardensRain BarrelsInfiltration TrenchesEvaporation PondsBioretention Gardens and BioswalesXeriscapingGreenroofingIn other words…anything that helps water

stay on a property…instead of running quickly off a property.

Why do we need LID ?• “Traditional urban end-of pipe stormwater

management is not achieving the level of watershed management we now realize is necessary to protect hydrologic function”

Better infiltration

helps to prevent erosion.

The importance, value and costs of waterways…

• Recreational use

• Commercial fishing

• Remediation costs from erosion

• Flooding; property damage and lawsuits

• Property value due to proximity to water

Planting LID can help with more than just flood control.

Pollinator and monarch supportThe more ‘good’ it does, the more public buy-in

you get!

Texture!

Colour

Natives

Sneezeweeds – HeleniumA great example of a ‘fen’ plant

Tamarak Larix laricina

Don’t forget about fall colour!

Combos

Create vignettes

for easy interest.

Sun Vs. Shade

Right SIZED plant for the place

Know your plants!

Xeriscaping with Infiltration Trenches

A cottage-style rainscape

Solar Rain PumpsIrrigatia.ca

Rain Barrels don’t have to be boring!

Whimsey

Bog/evaporation pond

My pond & bogfed by rainwater

Moving waterComplex (ornamental)

An infiltration trench

a gravel chamber below ground to hold and soak in water

Mandated!

Rain Water Gardens

Depths-6 – 8” in clay

-up to 1’6” in free draining soil

• Note the sparkleberry!

Some Rain Gardens aren’t even visible

Infiltration Ponds/Rain Garden Hybrids

The Simplest Rain Garden

Annnnd, today (keep track of what doesn’t work!)

Black Gamecock Louisiana Iris

• It can and should be beautiful.

Bioretention Gardens

Bioretention Gardens. What and How?

Bioswales

Underground Rain Harvesting

Remove the impermeable!

Working Women Community Centre – formerly all impermeable

Permeable Paving – Changing the way we handle water.

An alternate product - Envirolok

Excellent resources

• Both the Toronto Region Conservation Authority and Credit Valley Conservation have excellent resources for rain gardening. Follow the links.

https://trca.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2138-STEW-Rain-Gardens.pdf

http://www.creditvalleyca.ca/news/story/alton-students-soak-up-some-artistic-inspiration/

Irrigation?• If you’re harvesting the rainwater, irrigate

if you like• Veggies require more water• Drought tolerant plants require more

water to establish• Put it right at the roots• Water in the early morning• Water seldom and deep IF NECESSARY• Automatic is bad!• Mulch the plantings

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