Rain Garden Design

Gateway Village Housing Devlopment in Frankfort, MI

Rain Gardens have been installed around most of the apartment buildings at Gateway Village in Frankfort. These gardens are depressions planted with Michigan native plants that collect storm water runoff from the roofs.  The gardens help filter rain water on site before it reaches the water table and nearby natural area.  Meanwhile, birds and other wildlife will benefit from eating the native seeds, berries, and insects found on these plants. 

Residents and passersby also will enjoy a dynamic year-round show of native plant material bearing branches, leaves, fruit, and flowers in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and textures.

Before 2009...

After 2010...

Before 2009...

After 2010...

Rain Garden Excavation and Construction

To build the rain gardens, the area was excavated three feet below grade.  Then two feet of soil was replaced with a loose soil mixture of 60 percent sand, 20 percent topsoil, and 20 percent compost.  The resulting depressions have gently sloped sides and a flat bottom.

To channel rain from the rooftops, PVC piping was connected between the buildings' down spouts and the rain gardens.  The rain water flows from the piping through a cluster of 6"-9" stones, preventing soil erosion before the water enters the rain gardens.

Irrigation tubing was installed on top of the soil.  The irrigation is for establishment of the plants and will be turned off once the plants have good root development.

Michigan Native Plants

The plants selected for the landscape at Gateway Village are a variety of hardy shade trees, shrubs, perennials, and grasses that can withstand a busy setting, sandy soil, and northern winters.

All the plants are native to Michigan.  These native species reflect some of the mix of plant types present in Michigan prior to the 1850's, before intensive European settlement.  The main advantage of installing native plants is their tolerance of local weather, soil, insect, and moisture conditions, which reduces the need for long-term maintenance and irrigation and can eliminate the demand for fertilizers and pesticides.

For the rain gardens, native perennials and grasses were chosen due to their deep roots, which will soak up most rainfall within 48 hours and even faster once the plants have matured in 2-3 years. 

Root Chart
This root chart for native perennials and grasses shows root depths of 7'-15' versus turf grass, on the far left,
with a root depth of 3"-4". Deep roots are vital for preventing erosion, soaking up moisture, and tolerating dry conditions.

Rain Garden Plants

Switch Grass,
Panicum virgatum

Culver's Root,
Veronicastrum virginicum

Canada Anemone,
Anemone canadensis

Joe Pye Weed,
Eupatorium maculatum

Red Twig Dogwood, Cornus sericea

Other Landscape Plants

Serviceberry, Amelanchier laevis

Pyramidal Arborvitae,
Thuja occidentalis 'Pyramidalis'

Orange Coneflower,
Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii 'Goldstrum'

Bearberry,
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi 'Massachusetts'

Purple Coneflower,
Echinacea purpurea

Hypericum Kalm's,
Hypericum kalmianum

Gold Drop Potentilla,
Potentilla fruticossa 'Gold Drop'

Dwarf Bush Honeysuckle,
Diervilla lonicera

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Flowers are sunshine, food and medicine to the soul.
- Luther Burbank