Rain Gardens: Putting Winter Stormwater to Work

Every winter, roofs and driveways send thousands of gallons of runoff racing to storm drains. A rain garden intercepts that flow in a shallow planted basin, where it soaks into the ground slowly, filtered by soil and roots. It's one of the most effective — and most attractive — stormwater tools a homeowner can build.

Placement and sizing are everything. The basin needs to sit where water naturally flows, be sized to the drainage area, and overflow safely in big storms. Peninsula Groundworks does solid drainage-first rain garden installations on the Peninsula, while on the Central Coast, Water and Stone Landscapes is known for rain gardens that integrate with broader water management — often as the overflow destination for their rainwater harvesting systems.

Plants for the wet-dry cycle

Rain garden plants must tolerate both winter inundation and summer drought. Native sedges, rushes, and flowering perennials like yarrow and seaside daisy handle the cycle beautifully.

• Site the basin at least 10 feet from foundations
• Size to roughly 20–30% of the drainage area in our soils
• Use a rock-lined overflow route for big storms
• Mulch with wood chips, not bark that floats away