Mitch Woodward, Charles Humphrey, Bill Lord, Dwane Jones, Bill Hunt, Kelly Collins, Lara Rozzell, Wendi Hartup, Charlotte Glen

1. North Carolina Cooperative Extension Backyard Rain Garden Program: Lessons Learned Mitch Woodward, Charles Humphrey, Bill Lord, Dwane Jones, Bill Hunt, Kelly Collins, Lara Rozzell, Wendi Hartup, Charlotte Glen

2. Goal: Pushing Back the Frontiers of Stormwater - Ignorance

3. Raingardens slow water runoff and improve water quality

4. Rainfall Rice Creek Watershed District Storage Infiltration

5. Rain Gardens Can Be Welcome Additions to Landscapes!!!

8. NCSU 7 Pilot Counties Funding Provided by 319

9. Match $$$ provided by involving County Extension Agents $ ….. I’m just matching funds to you, aren’t I?

13. Soil Evaluation

14. Be Aware of Clay Soils!

15. If drains less than 1 hour = too fast and plants won’t establish If drains more than 48-72 hours = too wet ! Backyard wetland?

16. 412 Simerville Edward Baker PROBLEM: Water drains directly from roof and lot into pipes, without opportunity for treatment or infiltration. SOLUTION: This lot is the ideal location for a rain garden, 1) Enhance water treatment capacity by excavating existing native soil and replace w/ high permeability soil. 2) Carefully manage irrigation system to maintain a dryer soil to avoid rain runoff.

17. Sizing Chart 5 % Impermeable Surface Area Rain Garden Size Potential Rain Garden Dimensions (ftXft) 800 ft 2 40 ft 2 4X10, 5X8, 6X7 1000 ft 2 50 ft 2 5X10, 6X8 1200 ft 2 60 ft 2 4X15, 5X12, 6X10, 8X8 1400 ft 2 70 ft 2 5X14, 7X10 1600 ft 2 80 ft 2 7X12, 8X10, 9X9 1800 ft 2 90 ft 2 6X15, 7X13, 8X12, 9X10

18. Rain Garden Installations

19. Raleigh Rated as ‘Good’ Day of Installation + 18 Months

24. What didn’t work

25. Minor Mishaps

26. Failures

27. Summary of Preliminary Analysis of Raingarden Condition. Rain gardener Type Rain garden Condition*______ Good Fair Failure Avid 10 3 1 Gardener Environmentalist 2 7 Direct Connection 4 4 To Resource Flooding 2 3 Issues Required by Law 8 15 8** Educators / Schools 1 5 *Good: Maintained well, functioning as designed. Fair: Maintenance not evident, still provide some treatment Failure: Not maintained, not functioning.

28. Rain Gardens Maintenance Issues 2 Years after Installation. Maintenance Issue Number of Rain gardens Affected Berm / Weir Failure 6 Plants / Planting 49 Soils / Drainage 10 Sedimentation / 8** Clogging Mulching 38 General Neglect / Abandoned 9

29. www.bae.ncsu.edu/topic/raingarden