Rain Garden

Our demonstration Rain Garden was created with support from the Erb Family Foundation. This is the first Rain Garden that Piet Oudolf has designed, and was created in partnership with technical expertise from InSite Design Studio and Roy Diblik. The Rain Garden collects and filters stormwater from the street, bypassing the sewer via an innovative stormwater inlet and trench drain. Instead of shedding heavy rainwater and debris into nearby Lake Tacoma and the Detroit River, our Rain Garden shows how flowering plants, trees, sedges and grasses can absorb and help infiltrate large volumes of stormwater in a more sustainable way.

Quick Facts

Stormwater Practice Area	3,803 square feet
Retention Zone Equivalent Water Depth	8.2 inches
Retention Zone Volume	1,677 cubic feet/12,544 gallons
Total Area	0.25 Acres

Plant Type	Varieties	Plants
Forbs	20	1,078
Grasses	5	1,742
Trees and Shrubs	15	89
Total	40	2,909

^{* As of March, 2023}