Rain barrel can help yard through the dry spells
In our "feast or famine" summers, saving water in the landscape can take two approaches. One is capturing and saving rainwater. The other is planning and planting specifically for dryer soils so irrigation isn't needed.
The past spring saw a bountiful supply of water. For many that meant flooding, and it's hard to even imagine the possibility of drought in August.
Capturing and reusing rainwater as needed is fairly simple. Rain barrels, rain gardens, small retention areas and redirecting sump pump discharge hoses or downspouts can be either large or small scale fixes, according to space available.
Ready-made rain barrels are available through local garden centers, online vendors and even some park districts and generally are 55 gallons.
The Eco-Rain Barrel collects and stores both rainwater and recovered household water. This durable 55-gallon container, made from recycled food and liquid containers, features drain valves at the bottom with garden hose threads, removable screen lids, and a 1-inch internal overflow. It also includes an optional valve located 16" off the ground to provide easy access for buckets or watering cans. It weighs just thirty pounds when empty, which makes it manageable for most people.
The Flora Rain Barrel and Planter doubles as both a rainwater storage unit and a planting container. It's a 55-gallon rain barrel that looks and is used just like a decorative planter, and has all the essential elements for rainwater collection, storage, and distribution. It is available in two designer-friendly colors.
Also available is a Stacking Rain Catchment System. This modified rain barrel allows for vertical stacking, which effectively doubles water storage capacity in the same footprint. An indented top inlet maximizes water inflow.
Most ready-made rain barrels are expandable through an optional linkage kit. Water storage capacity is easily doubled or tripled. When the main rain barrel fills completely, the overflow water is directed automatically into the next barrel instead of into the ground, driveway or curb.
Also available is a rain diverter, which attaches to your downspout and allows you to completely bypass the water collection system. You can either direct water into the rain barrel by simply flipping an arm down, or bypass the water collection system altogether by flipping it up.
The handy gardener can make a rain barrel at home. Directions can be found through search online.
Xeriscaping is a term coined by a Colorado water task force, born out of a severe drought in 1977. Xeri is a prefix meaning "dry," and scaping implies deliberate design.
Xeriscaping is the opposite approach to the usual way of gardening in the Midwest. Instead of enhancing moisture in the soil and building in sprinkler or irrigation systems, xeriscaping actually promotes dryness. Crushed stone is often added to planting beds to enhance drainage. Drought-loving plants are selected and once established require little or no irrigation. In fact, the bane of drought-loving plants is a cold, wet winter or spring.
For an informal xeriphytic landscape, think mountain meadow flowers. Every year in late fall or very early spring we scatter drought-tolerant seed collections in a corner of the yard that is dry and sunny year round. California poppies, red flax, meadow pinks and bachelor's buttons are just some of the flowers that do well here. Some self-sow each year and every summer brings a joyful mini-meadow that changes from week to week as new flowers mature and old ones fade.
• Beth Gollan is a horticulturist at The Planter's Palette, 28W571 Roosevelt Road, Winfield, IL 60190. Call 630-293-1040.