Creating a Rain Garden: Video

Easy to install and maintain, rain gardens add beauty year-round, mitigate droughts and floods, plus they help prevent water pollution.

Planted with native species, these shallow depressions soak up stormwater and support trees, shrubs and flowers that tolerate both wet and dry conditions. Best of all, they provide wildlife habitat that restores ecological balance to our landscapes.

This workshop covers the basics of designing and installing rain gardens, including how to:

• Evaluate, amend and prepare your soil

• Calculate the best dimensions for a natural irrigation source

• Select and maintain native species

Resources

• Creating a Rain Garden

• Native Plants for Long Island Rain Gardens

• Rain Gardens: A How-To Manual for Homeowners

• Browse Plants by County - NYFA: New York Flora Atlas

• Native Plants | Aubudon (Audubon native plant finder by zipcode + bird friendly plants)

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Robin Simmen is a landscape designer and environmental educator who focuses on native plants, sustainable horticulture, and water conservation.

Formerly with Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Cornell Cooperative Extension, she holds a B.A. from Cornell University and a masters degree from Conway School of Landscape Design.

She is currently a board member and chair of the landscape committee at North Fork Audubon Society.