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Native Rain Gardens
These are pictures of building a rain garden at the Museum of Transportation a St. Louis County Park.All this excessive amount of water comes off a very large parking lot. A smaller rain garden can be built in your yard from the water coming from your gutters or neighbors yard. Just scale down this concept.
Just choose a low, already wet spot in your yard. Dig out six to nine inches of the area. Add two inches of compost and mix it in.
This will improve the drainage of the area. So now you have a shallow bowl like area that will hold approximately six inches of water. The water should be absorbed into the water table in less than forty eight hours. If it doesn’t you should add more compost or make it shallower. Rocks and boulders can be used to control erosion and to beautify the area.Look at my list of native plants and choose the rain garden plants for the wettest area. The other natives or perennials can be planted in the surrounding areas.
| RG= Rain Garden Plant | SIZE | COMMON NAME |
| Amsonia illustris | 1QT | |
| Anemone virginiana | 1QT | |
| Aquilegia canadensis | 1QT | |
| Aruncus dioicus | 1QT | |
| Asclepias tuberosa | 1QT | Butterfly Weed |
| Asclepias incarnata | 1QT | RG Marsh Milkweed |
| Aster novae angliae | 1QT | RG New England aster |
| Aster oblongifolius | 1QT | |
| Aster paludosus | 1QT | |
| Baptisia australis PP o Y | 1QT | Blue Wild Indigo |
| Callirhoe involucrata | 1QT | |
| Carex albacans | 1QT | RG Whitetinged |
| Carex praegracilis | 1QT | RG Tollway sedge |
| Carex crinita | 1QT | RG Tussocks sedge |
| Carex muskingumensis | 1QT | RG Palm sedge |
| Carex stricta | 1QT | RG Tussock sedge |
| Ceanothus americanus | 2QT | New Jersey tea |
| Chelone glabra (white) | 1QT | RG Turtle Head |
| Chelone oblique (pink) | 1QT | RG Turtle Head |
| Conoclinium coelestinum | 1QT | Wild Ageratum |
| Coreopsis lanceolata | 1QT | |
| Echinacea paradoxa | 1QT | |
| Echinacea purpurea | 1QT | Purple Coneflower |
| Eryngium yucciffolium | 1QT | Rattlesnake Master |
| Eupatorium purpureum | 1GAL | Joe pie weed |
| FERN Cyrtomium fortunei | 1QT | Holly Fern |
| FERN Athyrium filix-femina | 1QT | RG Lady Fern |
| FERN Athyrium filix-femina | 1GAL | |
| FERN Onoclee Sensibilis | 1QT | RG Sensitive Fern |
| FERN Osmunda cinnamonea | 1QT | Cinnamon Fern |
| FERN Polystichum acrostichoids | 1QT | Christmas Fern |
| Geranium maculatum | 1GAL | Wild Geranium |
| Heuchera richardsonii | 1QT | |
| HIBISCUS lasiocarpus | 1QT | |
| Grass Schizachyrium scoparium | 1QT | Little Blue Stem |
| Grass Sporobolus heterolepis | 1QT | Prairie Dropseed |
| Grass Chasmanthium latifloium | 1QT | RG River Oats |
| Iris Cristata | 1QT | Crested iris |
| Iris fulva | 1QT | RG Copper iris |
| Iris virginica shrevei | 1QT | RG Southern blue flag |
| Juncus effusus | 1QT | RG Soft Rush |
| Liatris aspera | 1QT | Rough Blazing Star |
| Liatris pynostachya | 1QT | |
| Liatris scariosa | 1QT | |
| Lobelia cardinalis | 1QT | RG Cardinal Flower |
| Lobelia siphilitica | 1QT | RG Blue Lobelia |
| Monarda fistulosa | 1QT | RG Wild Bergamot |
| Oenethera macrocarpa | 1QT | Missouri Primrose |
| Penstemon cobaea | 1QT | |
| Penstemon digitalis | 1QT | Foxglove |
| Phlox divericata | 1QT | |
| Phlox paniculata | 1QT | Garden Phlox |
| Polemonium reptans | 1QT | |
| Rubeckia hirta | 1QT | Black eye Susan |
| Rubeckia fulgida | 1QT | Orange Coneflower |
| Sedum ternatum | 1QT | |
| Silene regina | 1QT | |
| Silphium perfoliatum | 1QT | Cup Plant |
| senecio obovatus | 1QT | Squaw weed |
| Scutellaria incana | 1QT | Downy Skullcap |
| Solidago rigida | 1QT | Stiff goldenrod |
| Stylophorum diphyllum | 1QT | Celedine Poppy |
| Tradescantia ohiensis | 1QT | |
| Verbena canadensis | 1QT | |
| Zizzia aurea | 1QT |
