Thank you Carol, Alameda, and Nola. I feel blessed to be able to grow roses in my garden and feel even more blessed to be able to share the beautiful roses with others. Here are some roses in my garden: A Night of Magic (bred by @dave_bang_roses), Ebb Tide, Princess Charlene De Monaco, and the forever graceful roses from @david_austin_roses: Jude the Obscure, Olivia Rose Austin, and Boscobel. Helen

Hi Alyssa, Looks like a good plan! I don't see any problems with this. Very straight forward solution - and it will look pretty next to your porch too! Can't wait to see your planting plan. Love it!

Rain gardens seem to be such a creative way to mitigate storm water runoff and associated pollution issues! The Great Lakes comprise almost a quarter of the entire Earth's fresh water- we need to preserve it for future generations. I have to wonder though, wouldn't it be extremely helpful to, for example, ban pesticide and herbicide use altogether? Why are we (as a society) still giving money to companies like Dow chemical to produce known carcinogens, neurotoxins etc. which are proven to flow into local water sources which many many drink and eat from? I think if the general population were exposed to and educated about the consequences of spraying their lawns for mainly aesthetic purposes, they might realize the weight of the impact. Maybe I'm preaching to the choir : )

Bought a house last year and unfortunately the basement flooded. We had a french drain installed in the perimeter of the basement and the sump pump is now temporarily draining to a trench alongside our house. Initially the plan was to connect the sump discharge to the storm sewer, but we are now exploring the possibility of a rain garden instead due to cost. Plus we like the idea of having a rain garden. We are thinking of putting it in our back yard and blending it in with current landscaping, keeping it 2' away from the fence. This is a point where the yard downslopes. Only downside is it is largely shaded. Also, on the other side of the chain link fence in our neighbor's yard there is an old dry well that has failed and this area gets flooded during heavy rains, requiring our neighbors to siphon this water to the street. The rest of the back yard would be challenging since there is a large maple tree and roots would be limiting, and much of the remaining yard would be uphill. The front yard may overflow onto the sidewalk, and especially since we don't know exactly how much water to anticipate with heavy rains, we thought that might not be a great idea. Since it was installed, our sump pump seems to be going off nearly every hour and it has been fairly dry. This especially makes us worried about possible overflow.