I planted my rain garden in May of 2020, so it’s just starting its second year, and man is it going gangbusters. I don’t know if it’s because the plants are native, the plants were quality, if I have great soil, great luck or all of the above.
Below are the baby plants on the day I planted them. It looks like I had more mulch than plant.
Below is the garden at the beginning of May 2021, one year later. A cardinal flower drowned, and much of the mulch washed away during the “great flood of 2020.” The rest of the plants look good though. And just wait until you see what happened by the end of May.
Here’s the garden by the third week of May, growing steadily.
Then, the plants by the end of May. Gangbusters!
The coreopsis are so huge (upper right corner) I’m considering splitting some and either planting them in another part of the garden, or giving them away. The Blueflag irises bloomed for the first time this year (around center of photo), and the blue-eyed grass went wild too–though they are smaller plants in general. They are also hard to capture on my cell phone camera. Here are the best shots though.
Just because the garden is doing well doesn’t mean I didn’t want to add some plants. I replaced the cardinal flower I lost last year, and I bought butterfly weed plants which will burst with little orange flowers, hopefully later this month.
The new plants cost $6 each, so I spent $18 on them. I used about 1/2 of an $8 bag of potting soil, so about $4 worth.
I plan on adding more mulch in the garden and some more grass seed on the outer rim. I have mulch and seed from last year, though, so I won’t spend more on it.
The grand total for this year is $22.
The setup for the garden was $360, so I’ve spent nearly $400 on the garden, which is a bit surprising. For many years, I spent only $15-20 on a hanging basket and called it a day.
I think the best part of the garden is just trying something I never would have years ago. It’s been a little backyard adventure.
Peace Out (and In),
Julie
Enjoy more posts about the rain garden:
- Creating a Rain Garden Part 1 is about planning,
- Creating a Rain Garden Part 2 is about purchasing,
- Creating a Rain Garden Part 3 is about planting,
- The Cost of a Rain Garden is about, well, the cost,
- What’s a Rain Garden consists of basic info on what a rain garden is and how it works.
- Then the Rain Came is about the flood, and finally,
- The Garden’s Growing shows what the garden looked like by August of its first year. Look closely and you’ll see what critters visited.
4 COMMENTS
Lisa
3 years agoLovely!
Julie
3 years ago AUTHORThanks!!
JMFL
3 years agoThanks for the update! Keep ’em coming.
Julie
3 years ago AUTHORWill do!