The average Missouri roof sheds tens of thousands of gallons of water a year. Where does all the rain water go? Roof runoff flows into the local storm water system, which often is stressed already by road and parking lot runoff.

You can ease the stress by channeling your roof’s runoff into a rain garden. Aside from providing beauty and natural diversity, rain gardens perform a vital landscape function. Their densely rooted native plants capture, filter, store and slowly release storm water. Rain gardens also trap and use nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates that otherwise would run off and pollute nearby streams. Your rain garden will reduce drainage and flooding problems, keep pollutants out of your local storm water system, and bring beauty and wildlife to your landscape.

The city of Kansas City recently began a 10,000 Rain Gardens initiative in which neighborhoods, Scout leaders, master gardeners, and landscape professionals have joined together to help solve Kansas City’s storm water quality issues.

Oakbrook is designed to treat water as a resource rather than a waste product. In addition to rain gardens, the developers are installing bio-retention systems in the middle of the cul-de-sacs, which use plants and trees to filter and capture storm water runoff.

When some people think Rain Gardens, they automatically think “mosquitoes.” Truth is, mosquitoes need at least a week of standing water to complete their life cycle. Rain gardens are designed with densely rooted plants that will absorb water, preventing the formation of mosquito-friendly puddles. Poorly maintained birdbaths and rain gutters are more likely to serve as mosquito breeding grounds than a rain garden, which attracts mosquito-hungry dragonflies.