Update Oct, 4, 2018
Due to the overwhelming response from our residents, funding is no longer available for this program in 2018. If additional funding becomes available in the future, we will announce it here and through our many other means of communication.
Residents can get help with landscaping that helps protect Rouge River watershed
Dearborn homeowners can enhance their property in an environmentally friendly way that benefits the community with help from the City’s new green infrastructure
Rain Gardens establish a desired sense of place by creating a home for native plants while encouraging environmental stewardship, involvement, promotion, and community pride.
They are a great way for individuals in the community to provide a natural habitat for wildlife and native plant varieties while improving the on-site water quality and decreasing stormwater runoff and erosion for a property. A rain garden can increase the real estate value of a property by including an aesthetically pleasing landscape that is both beautiful and a working best management practice for director stormwater runoff.
Some features of a rain garden are:
- A lawn garden of native shrubs, perennials, and flowers that flourish in moisture.
- Rain gardens are designed to temporarily hold and soak in rainwater runoff.
- They remain dry most of the time and typically only hold water during and following a rain event.
Rain gardens are an inexpensive, simple to implement and environmentally sound solution to urban stormwater runoff.
- Conserves Water - Rainwater helps plants grow and reduces the need for watering.
- Protects Water Quality - Plants help filter pollutants like chemicals from the roofing tile, fertilizer, and litter from the sidewalk.
- Helps Reduce Flooding and Erosion - Runoff collects in the low area and soaks into the soil instead of rapidly washing into streets, drains and creeks.
The benefits of planting rain gardens are numerous. Rain garden benefits include pollution control, flooding protection, habitat creation and water conservation.
A Rain Garden will:
- Filter runoff pollution
- Recharge local groundwater
- Conserve water
- Improve water quality
- Protect rivers and streams
- Remove standing water in your yard
- Reduce mosquito breeding
- Increase beneficial insects that eliminate pest insects
- Reduce potential of a home flooding
- Create habitat for birds & butterflies
- Survive drought seasons
- Reduce garden maintenance
- Enhance sidewalk appeal
- Increase garden enjoyment
A step by step guide to building a Rain Garden is available here:
A Guide to Rain GardensFind links to sample rain garden designs here:
A list of Rain Garden service providers, as recommended by the environmental group Friends of the Rouge, is available here:
List of Rain Garden Service Providers
Sustainability and green infrastructure have come to the forefront of city planning in Dearborn and this new program is made possible by a Green Infrastructure Champions Grant the City received from the Great Lakes Commission.
“The purpose of this program is to build a partnership between residents and the municipal government in order to reduce stress on City’s storm drains and minimize urban stormwater runoff generated from homes, while simultaneously beatifying residential landscapes” said Jeffrey M. Polkowski, planner for the City of Dearborn. For more informtion call the City of Dearborn Planning Divison at 313-943-2170.
Photo courtesy of Rain Dog Designs, Gig Harbor, WA