Rain Garden Plants

Deep-rooted plants and the sunken profile of rain gardens help infiltrate stormwater runoff and reduce erosion. And rain gardens can be as beautiful as they are functional. In fact, many of our most beautiful regional plants need the type of regular moisture found in a rain garden to thrive.

Keep in mind that your rain garden, unlike a water garden, will be dry most of the time. Plants should be able to tolerate short periods of inundation, but not require constant standing water. Select plants with moderate moisture requirements for areas that will have moist, well-drained soil. For drier sites like the edge of your rain garden, use plant that have low or moderate moisture requirements. Perennial plants should be hardy in your growing zone. if you are not sure about your zone, see the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

Save plants for your project by clicking the 'My Plant List' button on the plant's page. For help in making your selections, use our Find the Right Plant feature.

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Festuca cinerea ''Elijah Blue''

Common Name: Elijah Blue Fescue

Clumping ornamental grass with outstanding icy-blue leaf color. Heat tolerance, evergreen quality and unique foliage color makes it perfect for edging borders or mass planting as a ground cover. Buff colored flowers rise above foliage in summer on ma...

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Ginkgo biloba

Common Name: Ginkgo

Great tree with rounded form for urban environments. Select male native trees to avoid fruit, or choose male clone selections including 'Autumn Gold', 'Bellfountain', 'Golden Globe' or 'Sentry'....

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Glyceria striata

Common Name: Fowl Manna Grass

The plant is tolerant of any soil. It can grow in part shade or sun. It requires wet soil and can grow in standing water. Plants of this genus are often planted in and around water gardens because they have attractive open flowering heads....

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Gymnocladus dioicus

Common Name: Kentucky Coffeetree

Here is a native tree that has real character and is a winner! Tolerant and adaptable to a wide variety of sites it has a fairly upright crown with relatively heavy branches forming picturesque outlines. It is very late to leaf out. Female trees p...

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