How Rainscaping Can Benefit Your Home and Curb Appeal

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

While April showers bring May flowers, the Spring rainy season may also bring unwanted problems to your property and home. Soaking yards and flooding are often common occurrences after large rainstorms. Yard drainage is necessary to keep water away from your home’s foundation and ensures your yard doesn’t become too moist and soggy. By rainscaping your property, you can ensure your property and the neighborhood beyond share the benefits.

What is Rainscaping?

In developed areas, there are naturally occurring areas where storm water pools. Maybe your backyard is built on a natural incline, or you’ve noticed your lawn naturally collects water in a specific spot. Rainscaping is a natural way of using the landscape to redirect, slow, catch, and filter storm water runoff.

People may wish to use natural water features, catch basins or barrels, large stone gravel instead of pavement, or a rain garden with a mix of diverse natural plants.

Why Should You Use Rainscaping?

Storm water is usually warmer than the groundwater that feeds streams and other waterways. When it reaches waterways, the storm water can sometimes upset the aquatic ecosystems from the contained pollutants that wash off hard or compacted surfaces. This can lead to things like algae blooms and mosquito breeding.

Rain gardens are a form of rainscaping that require an area where water can collect. People usually build rain gardens in natural lawn depressions, or lower ground dips than the rest of the property. Rain gardens thrive with a variety of native plants to your area. These plants are naturally adapted to a wide range of local moisture conditions and have the best chance of adapting to rain garden conditions.

Rainscaping Benefits

Rainscaping your property has numerous benefits, including preventing mosquitoes from wreaking havoc. Mosquitoes require standing water, such as puddles, and about a week to breed. After a rain event, water that’s redirected with rainscaping becomes absorbed or filtered within twenty-four hours. In addition, rainscaping prevents pollution, encourages natural water conservation, reduces flooding effects, and creates safe habitats for wildlife neighbors.

Prevents Pollution

When water runs off, it isn’t pure rainwater. It collects pollutants and debris as it carries off rooves, through lawns, and across concrete and pavement. When the runoff water enters a rain garden, the plants and soil naturally filter the pollutants before it enters waterways.

Water Conservation

The native plants that thrive in rain garden don’t require additional watering or regular upkeep as they’re already naturally adapted to your climate’s environment. They will take all their nutrients from water runoff and rain events.

Reduce Flood Effects

Plants will naturally take up excess water that may normally puddle in your yard. This can lead to plant and lawn damage, unpleasant odors, or water intrusions in your home.

Habitat Creation

Lawns do very little to nurture wildlife. However, rain gardens provide safety to pollinators like bees and butterflies, beneficial insects, and birds. Additionally, they will eat the insects that you don’t want in your yard.

Just as you lean on experts for your landscaping and yard care needs, you can lean on us for home financing. When you contact us, you’re paired with a Licensed Loan Originator who has unique knowledge about local markets and loan programs hand-picked for you.