Healthy Gardens

Rain garden/BlueScaping

A rain garden is a landscaped depression that is planted with native shrubs, grasses and flowers. It's designed to collect rainwater that runs off hardened surfaces such as your roof or driveway. See the landscape design guide for low impact development and BlueScaping our neighbourhoods for more information.

How it works

A rain garden slows and reduces stormwater runoff by temporarily holding it and allowing the water to soak into the ground. The native plants also help filter the contaminants and sediments that would otherwise be carried into your lake or the nearest water body through the storm water system.

Here are a few things to consider when building one:

• Proper Location – It's important to identify an area on your lawn where stormwater can be captured, such as near a downspout or even the overflow from a rain barrel, or at an existing depression in the ground.
• Size - The size and depth of your rain garden is important as it needs to be large enough to manage the amount of stormwater it receives. 
• Soil Type - Use sandy or loam soils (loam soils are an even mix of sand, silt and clay) as they are porous and allow the water to seep back into the ground at a faster rate. You want to avoid clay soils as they are less porous. 
• Plants - It is important to choose plants that are native to the area and can tolerate both wet and dry conditions. Certain native plant species have fibrous root systems that grow well in rain garden conditions. Remember to consider whether the species are shade or sun tolerant species.

Shoreline garden

View our shoreline owner's guide to lakeland living to learn how to develop a healthy shoreline garden. Healthy shoreline gardens can make a big difference, and provide many benefits including:

• Protecting water quality by reducing the amount of nutrients, bacteria, contaminants, and sediments that reach your lake or river
• Reducing erosion and sedimentation that can impact fish spawning beds
• Providing wildlife habitat for native species such as birds, dragon flies, butterflies, frogs and fish
• Deterring nuisance Canada Geese that can make a mess and contribute to elevated E.coli in the water

Shorelines are often called the "ribbon of life” because they're critical to the ecological health of lakes and rivers.

Pollinator garden

Pollinators are animals, mostly insects, that transfer pollen from flower to flower, fertilizing plants. Creating healthy gardens with native flowering plants support local pollinators. They're important because they account for a significant amount of our food sources and ecological balances.

See native plants for pollinators for detailed information.

XeriScaping

Another landscape solution is xeriscaping, which is an approach that can be used when water is scarce. The word "xeriscape" is derived from the Greek word "'xeros" meaning dry; xeriscaping literally means "dry landscaping". This type of landscaping involves selecting plants native to the geographical area and suited to dry moisture conditions.

Additional resources

• Grow me instead - beautiful non-invasive plants for your garden
• Society for Ecological Restoration Ontario - growers list
• Landowner guide to protecting water quality in the Kawarthas
• BlueScaping our neighbourhoods
• Rain gardens 101
• A shoreline owner's guide to lakeland living
• Landscape design guide for low impact development