well of course I have to give my vote to S. Ralph Henry. he was a great man! ran his father's hardware store many many years in Siloam Springs and when he thought he was retired it was really all about working with daylilies after that for Mrs. Henry. ha! He'd have such stories about when the railroad came through town and how they had stockyards right downtown, and how there was a cave underneath the town.... every day he'd be out in the yard in his old coveralls with Henry Hardware on the pocket. otherwise I like the Swedish girls photo too. :)

I just heard about this and thought some people here might be interested. They've still got lots of spots left! -Ruth STORMWATER MANAGEMENT IN YOUR BACKYARD RAIN GARDEN WORKSHOP-TRAINING SESSIONS AND PLANTING Friday/Saturday-June 13 and 14 (see specific times below) In conjunction with the 2nd Annual Farm Fun Day sponsored by Frederick County Farm Bureau If you ever wanted to learn how to design and install a rain garden on your own property, this is a great opportunity. Space is still available -- plus we need volunteers to help with the planting. What is a rain garden? A rain garden is a landscaped, shallow depression that is designed to intercept, treat, and infiltrate stormwater at the source before it becomes runoff. Native plants that help retain pollutants are used, and rain gardens at this scale are designed to be both attractive and easy to maintain (homeowner friendly). What are the benefits of rain gardens? Rain gardens reduce the stormwater runoff to our local streams. Rain gardens improve water quality. Rain gardens help to recharge the groundwater. Rain gardens replace areas that require mowing with attractive landscape features. There are many options available in terms of participating in this workshop You can attend any of the training sessions, come help with the planting, or both. Session 1: Stormwater management overview and how these small homeowner projects can make a difference Where: The Herds Inn at Hedgbrook Farm-688 Shady Elm Rd. Winchester, VA When: Friday June 13, 7:00PM-8:30PM Session 2: Rain garden design, site selection, site preparation and maintenance Where: The Herds Inn at Hedgbrook Farm-688 Shady Elm Rd. Winchester, VA When: Saturday June 14, 8:00AM-9:30AM Rain Garden Planting Where: The Herds Inn at Hedgbrook Farm-688 Shady Elm Rd. Winchester, VA When: Saturday June 14, 9:45AM-Noon (lunch provided) To RSVP or obtain additional information contact: Jim Lawrence at 667-0761 or JIML@crosslink.net

Is this all around a no-go? No. Go for it. The concepts, principles and many of the plants that you will learn in a Rain Gardener class can be applied to planting this space appropriately even if it not used to manage storm water or as a rain garden. Take the class. Plant this garden after a good assessment of the site conditions, the markets needs and the actual human traffic patterns. Both will be good for your professional development.

Your only job when you build this rain garden is to make sure that the rain garden bottom is at least 4 inches *deeper* than the pipe. Use this calculation: The ~20' of pipe has to slope downward, so that the water makes it to the rain garden. So figure out how much that pipe needs to drop. Here is a quick calculator that calculates the *bare minimum* of drop your pipe needs to have. For safety, I would double it. https://www.builderscalculator.com/drain-pipe-slope-calculator/ For your 20 feet of length, I get 2.5 inches of pipe drop. Double that, and you get 5 inches. Plus the depth of the rain garden (4 inches) and you get your digging depth: 9 inches. If you want to live dangerously, you could dig a bit less - but No Shallower Than 6.5 inches! This is measured from where you think the bottom of the pipe will be once they build the patio. This might be pretty deep. At least 8 inches deep. So that gives you a total of 9+8=17 inches deeper than your ground level near the house. How to measure that where the rain garden is? Put up your stakes with a string between. String it where the pipe will start and finish - ground level near the house, and level it with a line level. Then measure down 17 inches from the string where you will be building your rain garden. It can be this deep, OR DEEPER. Deeper is fine. It just can't be any shallower than this. And since the ground slopes away from your house already, you won't have to dig the whole 17 inches. It will be less than that. All that sounds do-able - don't you think? :)