My Garden Summer - The Rain Garden

[Dee & Frank Hughes]

It all started with Milkweed. CBJ let us know that Milkweed, otherwise known as Aesclepias ...see, I'm learning, was the only plant upon which the Monarch butterfly will lay its eggs. The larvae evidently love to feed on some part of the plant. Our first stop in the search was the NC/SC Native Plant sale held a few weeks back in York, SC. "Sorry, we sold out in about 10 minutes". We did pick up a Buckeye and a Beauty Berry as well as a brochure for making a rain garden. Now we live close to the bottom of a hill. Every rain storm I watch my uphill mulch flow downhill and out into the street. If anyone needs a rain garden it's me. The brochure gave a recommended plant list that included Aesclepias Incarnata - Swamp Milkweed. We staked out a small area as a test rain garden, about 30 square feet, and put together a shopping list of natives.
Next stop was the UNCC plant sale. We went on members day and filled most of our list except for, you guessed it. Our last gasp was Wing Haven, again on members day. We made a beeline to the natives table and there it was, a big beautiful Swamp Milkweed, one of only 3.
So here's a pic of our planted out test rain garden.

This is excavated out to about 6 inches. You will not find more heavy compacted clay in Matthews. I dug in wheelbarrow full of my own compost and topped the bed with a thin layer of hardwood mulch.
The plants in here are (common names) Cardinal Flower (3); Gay Feather (3); Seashore Mallow(2); Swamp Hibiscus(2); Stokes Aster(2); Swamp Sunflower (1) and ta da Swamp Milkweed.
I'll post some pics as the summer progresses. If it succeeds we'll expand next spring.

[Carol Buie-Jackson]

Well done!

If you want some scarlet hibiscus to add to your rain garden, I have some to share! Just let me know.