4 Gardens With Creative, Earth-Friendly Drainage Solutions
See how designers have made the most of site conditions to manage runoff, catch rainwater and more
The right balance of water is crucial for our gardens. Too much can turn soils boggy and seep into building foundations. Too little and plants are parched. The following four gardens demonstrate how to deal with drainage in ways that keep gardens healthy, prevent structures from being damaged and put rainwater to use rather than sending it downstream through storm drains. Take a look and see if any of the design takeaways, such as choosing permeable materials for patios or installing a rain barrel, could help you manage water in your landscape.
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To help control slope erosion and water runoff, the design team installed a vast serpentine basalt retaining wall system and stairway running from the home’s back steps down to the river. Crushed rock on the soil side of each retaining wall curve helps absorb water, as do sections of gravel on the pathway.
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Other areas of the garden offer smart ideas for dealing with drainage that are more replicable for those of us who don’t live on a riverside drop.
Smart drainage idea: Add a rain garden. In the front entry, a walkway of concrete slabs appears to float over beds that function as rain gardens, which collect water and allow it to soak back into the ground. The beds are designed as water-moving swales, amended with quick-draining soil and crushed rocks and planted with moisture-loving sedges, rushes, camas and irises.
The swales collect, slow down and drain rainwater as it flows down the slope above the home. Using gravel for the driveway, rather than poured concrete, also helps rainwater to drain on-site.
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Smart drainage idea: Add a rain garden. In the front entry, a walkway of concrete slabs appears to float over beds that function as rain gardens, which collect water and allow it to soak back into the ground. The beds are designed as water-moving swales, amended with quick-draining soil and crushed rocks and planted with moisture-loving sedges, rushes, camas and irises.
The swales collect, slow down and drain rainwater as it flows down the slope above the home. Using gravel for the driveway, rather than poured concrete, also helps rainwater to drain on-site.
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2. Naturalistic Garden Efficiently Drains Water
Designer: Jose Roberto Corea and Jeff Fletcher of Austin Outdoor Design
Location: Austin, Texas
Size: A quarter acre
To manage runoff, any new landscapes installed in Austin, Texas, have to comply with citywide restrictions on how much of the ground can be covered with a permeable surface (able to drain water) versus an impermeable one (which creates runoff). This is true for many cities, but in Austin the restrictions are particularly strict, requiring in some instances that more than half of the property’s square footage be permeable.
Faced with these design parameters, designers Jose Roberto Corea and Jeff Fletcher came up with an Asian-inspired plan for their client’s garden that used a mix of mostly permeable materials centered around a naturalistic human-made creek.
Designer: Jose Roberto Corea and Jeff Fletcher of Austin Outdoor Design
Location: Austin, Texas
Size: A quarter acre
To manage runoff, any new landscapes installed in Austin, Texas, have to comply with citywide restrictions on how much of the ground can be covered with a permeable surface (able to drain water) versus an impermeable one (which creates runoff). This is true for many cities, but in Austin the restrictions are particularly strict, requiring in some instances that more than half of the property’s square footage be permeable.
Faced with these design parameters, designers Jose Roberto Corea and Jeff Fletcher came up with an Asian-inspired plan for their client’s garden that used a mix of mostly permeable materials centered around a naturalistic human-made creek.
Smart drainage idea: Use permeable paving materials. Gravel covers most of the backyard, with slim areas for decking and a walkway around the swimming pool (shown in the background). This makes almost all of the backyard able to absorb rainwater and complies with the city’s permeability requirements. Planted bamboo and low-water grasses add lushness to areas that aren’t covered in gravel or part of the river rock-edged water feature.
Tip: For those needing a more solid ground surface than loose gravel, stabilized decomposed granite (DG), pavers with gravel joints and porous concrete all provide stability while also draining runoff.
Tip: For those needing a more solid ground surface than loose gravel, stabilized decomposed granite (DG), pavers with gravel joints and porous concrete all provide stability while also draining runoff.
In what is otherwise a fairly arid garden, the creek adds an element of life and movement and invites neighborhood birds to stop by for a drink. The water recirculates between an upper and lower pond (pumped back up underground), so the only water lost is through evaporation.
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3. Clever Patio Design Helps a Sunken Seating Area
Designer: Micah Rogers of Boyce Design and Contracting
Location: Virginia-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta
Size: 1,475-square-foot (137-square-meter) outdoor space; 550-square-foot (51-square-meter) patio
What was formerly a damp, sloped backyard received a major upgrade thanks to a smart regrading plan and a stylish new patio design by landscape architect Micah Rogers.
Designer: Micah Rogers of Boyce Design and Contracting
Location: Virginia-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta
Size: 1,475-square-foot (137-square-meter) outdoor space; 550-square-foot (51-square-meter) patio
What was formerly a damp, sloped backyard received a major upgrade thanks to a smart regrading plan and a stylish new patio design by landscape architect Micah Rogers.
After: To help reroute water away from the home, the team excavated the lower level of the garden and added a retaining wall to help control the flow of water.
Smart drainage idea: Install a sub-draining patio. The patio, made of concrete slabs with wide gaps between them, sits on a 12-inch-deep gravel base set over buried perforated pipes. This design allows rainwater runoff to be collected and diverted, via the pipe, into the garden. Bordering the patio, the design team planted a row of ‘Green Giant’ arborvitae (Thuja ‘Green Giant’), which benefit from the deep watering.
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Smart drainage idea: Install a sub-draining patio. The patio, made of concrete slabs with wide gaps between them, sits on a 12-inch-deep gravel base set over buried perforated pipes. This design allows rainwater runoff to be collected and diverted, via the pipe, into the garden. Bordering the patio, the design team planted a row of ‘Green Giant’ arborvitae (Thuja ‘Green Giant’), which benefit from the deep watering.
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4. Sustainably Minded Garden Harvests Rainwater
Designer: Princeton Design Collaborative
Location: Near Freehold, New Jersey
Size: 2,550 square feet (237 square meters) outdoor space
This backyard’s homeowners were looking to make their garden more practical and more sustainable when they contacted Princeton Design Collaborative. They were also dealing with a challenging, triangular lot that left odd-sized spaces to fit design features like patios or raised beds.
Designer: Princeton Design Collaborative
Location: Near Freehold, New Jersey
Size: 2,550 square feet (237 square meters) outdoor space
This backyard’s homeowners were looking to make their garden more practical and more sustainable when they contacted Princeton Design Collaborative. They were also dealing with a challenging, triangular lot that left odd-sized spaces to fit design features like patios or raised beds.
The design team came up with a plan that positioned a new outdoor dining patio in the widest section of the triangle, beds for growing vegetables along the side of the house and room for a compost pile, a garden storage shed and a small area of lawn.
Smart drainage idea: Catch rainwater. A newly installed 430-gallon rain barrel catches runoff from the roof, providing enough water to irrigate all landscaped beds, minus the lawn. You can see the extension of the gutter to the rain barrel here (the rain barrel is hidden behind a cedar screen).
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Smart drainage idea: Catch rainwater. A newly installed 430-gallon rain barrel catches runoff from the roof, providing enough water to irrigate all landscaped beds, minus the lawn. You can see the extension of the gutter to the rain barrel here (the rain barrel is hidden behind a cedar screen).
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A view looking back toward the seating area shows the size of the rain barrel. The lawn occupies the lowest point in the backyard, where it will naturally absorb any excess water from the patio. Plantings include ‘Standing Ovation’ little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Standing Ovation’) and Red Drift roses (Rosa ‘Meigalpio’).
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Designer: Glenn Nardelli and Mikiel Deguara of Pistils Landscape Design + Build; Anita van Asperdt and Catherine Davis of LandCurrent Landscape Architects
Location: Milwaukie, Oregon, a suburb south of Portland
Size: About 1 acre
This property had more challenging existing conditions than your typical yard. Not only does the region in the Pacific Northwest receive heavy seasonal rainfall, the house itself is perched on a hillside with a 50-foot vertical drop down to the Willamette River.