Description

The University of Connecticut Center for LandUse Education and Research in UConn’s College of Agriculture andNatural Resources and the Connecticut Sea Grant Program developedthis App as a resource for homeowners, landscapers, contractors,and others that guides you through the process of designing,installing, and maintain a rain garden. Rain gardens aredepressions in the ground that collect rainwater from roofs,driveways, parking areas, or other hard surfaces and use plants tocleanse pollutants from that runoff.

The App includes Basic information about what rain gardens areand how they work; guidance on how to design and install themproperly; and tips on maintaining your garden. The app includesseveral short video tutorials to help users with each step of theprocess.

Through the App’s Plant Selector tool users can select native,noninvasive plants and their cultivars that are known to work wellin rain gardens. Plants can be selected based on plant type, sunexposure, and bloom color.
There are also tools for determining rain garden size based on thesize of the area draining to it, a soil drainage map to helpdetermine if a rain garden makes sense in a particular area, and asimple cost calculator to gauge cost.

Users can also store information in the App about the Rain Gardensthey have installed and set maintenance reminders for multiplegardens.
It is currently geared primarily toward users in CT, so the plantcatalog and mapping tools are specific to that area. However, thegeneral information and tips are applicable anywhere. We hope tohave a nationally applicable version available soon.