Rain Garden Kit - Shade - 72 plants
Can be shipped.
This Garden Kit includes 72 plants, a garden design, and instructions for planting and maintenance. The design and instructions are available here. We recommend reading the instructions page before purchasing.
The Shady Rain Garden Kit is a perfect combination of plants for your new rain garden. Rain gardens are depressions in the landscape designed to be dry most of the time, allow about 3” to 12” of water to pond after a rainfall, and then soak that water completely into the ground within 24-48 hours so that the rain garden is dry again with room to take the next rainfall. They reduce stormwater runoff and reduce water pollution. Ponds are much different from rain gardens—ponds hold water forever and don’t dry up between rainfalls. These plants cannot survive in ponds or “wet spots in my yard”!
We designed this garden with our favorite native plants that can survive being in standing water for 1-2 days and then be in completely dry conditions for weeks on end (see list below). The flowers attract loads of pollinators from spring to late fall, with the Meadow Blazing Star in particular attracting swarms of monarch butterflies in August (you have to see it to believe it!).
This rain garden kit includes some plants for the wetter basin and some plants for the drier slopes. If you have large areas in your rain garden which are dry and won’t have temporary ponding, we recommend pairing it with our Short-and-Shady Pollinator Garden Kit.
Note: This garden kit is not a solution for troublesome wet spots or ponds in your yard that are typically wet for many days or weeks—most of these plants cannot handle constantly wet roots. Rain gardens are only wet for a day or two at most. They are usually newly created landscape projects that are designed by calculating runoff, digging a depression, adding inlets and outlets, and even adding sand or compost to help increase drainage. Before you plant your rain garden, wait a couple of rainfalls and make sure that your rain garden is draining well (completely dry within 1-2 days).
Details
Perennials
Sun: Shade, Part Shade
Moisture: Medium, Medium Wet
Height: 10 inches - 3 feet
Blooms: April - September
Spacing: Plant each plant about 12 - 15″ apart
Zones: 3-8
Benefits: Butterflies, Pollinators, Birds
Size: One tray of 72 plants
Plants are 1.6” wide x 3.2” deep “plugs”. These 72 plugs come in a single tray that’s 11” x 21” long.
They are small but grow surprisingly big the 1st year and are large, flowering plants the 2nd year.
We use these plugs for our own projects because they are budget friendly and very easy to plant.
Plants included:
Flowers:
6 Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
18 Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
6 Bradbury's Monarda (Monarda bradburiana)
12 Wild Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricata)
6 Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium reptans)
6 Orange Coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida)
Grasses and Sedges:
6 Graceful Sedge (Carex davisii)
12 Star Sedge (Carex radiata)
Note on Species: Depending on germination and greenhouse success we may have to substitute a species or two, but usually this list is spot on.
Installation Tips:
This Garden Kit will plant an area from 10ft x 10ft up to 10ft x 15ft, depending on how you like to space the plants.
It’s important to remove any grass or weed roots before planting. If you remove grass with a shovel, it can take a few hours. If you want to smother it with paper or cardboard, it can take 2-3 months. Plan ahead of time.
We recommend adding 3” of wood mulch (not included). Wood mulch reduces weeds, reduces watering to just 3-5 times the first year, and nearly doubles plant growth—well worth the extra work and cost (about $50 for a 10ft x 10ft area).
We recommend adding edging to prevent grass or weeds from creeping into the garden (not included).
