Mary-Carson, so many people just have no idea what a rain garden is or a wetland is, and I'm just so happy for you to be here to help us explain all of these things, particularly a rain garden.

So, you know, some people think it's just a soggy spot in the ground and that's opposite really.

>>Definitely.

Well, thank you Peggy, for having us and having our organization on your show.

We appreciate being asked.

So a rain garden is a depression in the ground and just a regular garden that should be filled with native plants that are nice and hearty and like to be in our environment.

And the plants are intended to actually absorb excess water that's flowing off of an impervious surface like a roof or like a street or a driveway.

And the plants are doing all of that absorption.

They're actually slowing the water down from entering into the stormwater system or into the groundwater table and giving our system a chance to take a breath, take a breather, and then once the rain actually enters the garden itself, it's actually treated.

And so it's cleaned and a lot of the pollutants are removed and a lot of the sediment is removed.

And so it's providing two dual purposes that are really important right now.

>>That's fantastic.

And it's like a crater in the yard.

It's, the best way to describe it is a crater, not a depression.

And it's whole goal is to actually have that water be permeated down into the water table within 24 to 48 hours.

So it's not sitting there.

>>Right.

Absolutely.

>>It moves.

>>And it's not a mosquito haven.

It is draining beautifully.

And it's not soggy at all.

In fact, it's very dry frequently.

>>Super, well you brought a little demo for us, so could you share that with us?

>>Yes.

This is our trusty rain garden demo.

And we're gonna show what happens when water falls on an impervious surface.

And you can see the cars here.

So on impervious surfaces like this, on asphalt parking lots on a street, there are a lot of pollutants that have gathered from the exhaust, from the gas- >>Even from tires.

>>Even from tires that rubber's getting into whatever, it flows down, whatever's flowing, collecting it downstream.

So in this scenario, we have plants, and this is a rain garden that's capturing whatever is being, whatever's on this actual surface.

And so we actually have the plants here that you can see on the table, and we're gonna talk about those plants and the role that they play.

And you can see a cross section of the different soil characteristics and rocks that are filtering down as the water flows through.

And the plants are really doing the hard work of cleaning up, all of the roots are eating up those gross pollutants that they love so much.

And what comes out at the bottom after, we're gonna give it a little bit more, what comes out at the bottom is actually cleaned.

And so it's doing that slowing down.

It's not draining directly out through the pipe here.

And so it's doing that, that slow down that's so important.

And then also serving the function of cleaning the water so that when it enters either the groundwater table or it enters a pipe and we have an outfall pipe here.

And that's important in the coastal zone where the water table's really high or in areas where there's no filtration.

The soles don't allow for easy absorption.

>>Yes.

And what does the filtration are the plants, so let's talk about them.

Which plants would be in the lowest or wettest layer of our rain garden?

Or the center of our rain garden.

>>Yes, so the plants that are gonna be lowest are those that like to be wet the most.

And here we have a Juncus as well as an Itea.

And these plants, this is our low elevation plants.

So you can see that it spreads out very nicely and retains its shape green in the warm season.

And then in the winter it gets a little bit of autumn color >>Brown color.

>>Yeah.

And then, oh, sorry.

>>Go ahead.

Then I say then the middle layer, the ones that are coming up a little, you know, we haven't hit the edge of that rain garden yet.

>>Yeah, so we're thinking of it as you said, kind of like a crater.

And so moving up the edges with a little bit more elevation.

These plants, they like to be wet, but they also like to be dry.

>>Yes.

>>And all rain garden plants have to be both drought tolerant as well as able to tolerate a lot of water.

>>Yes.

>>So this is a blue star and it's in that midsection.

This is a beautiful flowering plant.

And in fact, in the fall it turns bright yellow.

>>Yes.

It's beautiful.

>>And it almost looks fuzzy.

This is magnificent.

Everybody should have one of these.

And then this is a beard tongue.

>>Tongue.

>>And this is a beautiful plant.

It's a little bit taller in size, and when it flowers, it creates kind of like a stalk of bells.

And this one is white in particular.

>>Yes.

>>And then we have the plants that are at the highest it can take the most dryness.

>>Yes.

>>Because they're up on the edge.

>>Exactly.

So here's a black-eyed Susan.

It's not blooming now, but many of you at home will know exactly what that looks Like.

>>It's a late summer bloomer.

>>That's right.

And then this is a spring bloom and it is a tick seed plant.

So similar color characteristic and similar size with the black-eyed Susan getting just a little bit taller.

But these both bloom for a really long time.

>>Yes.

>>So you get a lot of color and a lot of interest for longer in the summer.

>>Because we need to remember our rain gardens are gardens and although they have special soils to help the water permeate down quickly and they have special plant requirements for the the bottom and then the edges and then the tops, this is still a garden in your yard that you can actually hide while actually helping all of our waterways.

>>That's right.

And this is especially important because in Virginia we've seen an 18% increase in rainfall since 2006 because of climate change.

And so we have to, everybody has to think about ways that we can capture water on site so that we're not overwhelming our systems with more water from flooding and more water from rainfall.

>>Mary-Carson, thank you so much for explaining a rain garden to us and showing us some plants.

>>We appreciate it.

>>Thank you.