The Transformation
See It Before and After
Drag the slider to see this rain garden bed before Aaron's crew expanded it, and after the new section filled in.
Before
After
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66 rain gardens built across Washtenaw County, every one inspected by county staff. Designed and installed to catch runoff, filter it naturally, and fill your yard with native plants that thrive without extra watering.
Request a ConsultationDrag the slider to see this rain garden bed before Aaron's crew expanded it, and after the new section filled in.
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A rain garden is a planted depression that catches and absorbs runoff from your roof, driveway, or lawn before it reaches storm drains or neighboring properties. Done right, it solves a real drainage problem, reduces your yard's runoff by a significant percentage, and provides a beautiful planting area that looks intentional rather than remedial. Done poorly, it's just a wet spot with sad plants in it.
Aaron designs rain gardens that look like garden features first and drainage solutions second. He selects plants for their ability to handle both temporary inundation and dry periods between rains - the specific stress cycle of a rain garden - while also providing seasonal color, wildlife value, and visual interest from multiple angles. Native plants are particularly well-suited to this work, having evolved to handle exactly these conditions.
The site work matters as much as the planting. The basin needs to be sized and located correctly relative to your drainage area, with proper inlet and overflow design so it handles a heavy rain event gracefully. Aaron handles both the engineering and the aesthetics, so you end up with something that works AND looks like it belongs.
Start a ConversationMost people picture digging a hole and putting plants in it. The installation is where a rain garden either works for twenty years or turns into the wet spot with sad plants in it, so it is worth knowing what the work involves before you agree to it.
The property walk comes first. Aaron looks at where water actually goes during a storm, not where it seems like it should go. Downspout positions, the slope of the drive, the low corner nobody thinks about. That walk determines the basin location, and getting it wrong is the single most common reason a rain garden underperforms.
Then the drainage area gets measured and the basin sized to it. A basin too small for its catchment overflows in every serious rain. Too large and it stays dry and the planting struggles. This is arithmetic, not instinct.
Excavation and soil amendment is the part that makes or breaks it in Washtenaw County. Our clay does not drain on its own. The installation involves digging well below the finished basin depth and rebuilding the profile with amended soil so water actually infiltrates within a day or two rather than sitting. Skipping this step is why so many rain gardens hold standing water.
Inlet and overflow last, before planting. Water needs a controlled way in and a controlled way out for the storm that exceeds the design. Then the planting goes in, layered for multi-season interest, and the first year of establishment guidance follows.
A typical residential installation runs a few days on site. Aaron does the design and the installation both, which means the person who sized the basin is the person watching it get dug.
Talk Through Your PropertyAaron has built 66 rain gardens in Washtenaw County and has been a certified Master Rain Gardener since 2014. Every rain garden on the county’s published contractor list has been inspected by Washtenaw County staff and confirmed correctly built: design, digging, planting and maintenance.
We take this work on across Washtenaw County. See what we build in Ann Arbor and Lodi Township, or get in touch about your own property.
Common Questions
A shallow planted depression positioned to catch runoff from a downspout, a driveway, or a low point, and let it soak into the ground over a day or two instead of running to the street. It's a drainage solution that looks like a garden bed, which is why it works in a front yard where a dry well wouldn't.
It shouldn't. A correctly built rain garden drains within roughly 24 to 48 hours, too fast to breed mosquitoes, which need considerably longer. If a rain garden holds water beyond that, the soil beneath it wasn't amended properly for our clay.
The City of Ann Arbor has run stormwater credit programs for practices that reduce runoff from a property, and Washtenaw County has promoted rain gardens as well. Aaron's company appears on the county's rain garden contractor list. Programs and eligibility change, so confirm the current details with the city before counting on a credit.
Natives that tolerate both flooding and drought, since a rain garden swings between the two. Switchgrass, blue flag iris, swamp milkweed, joe-pye weed, cardinal flower and sedges all perform well here, and they bring the pollinators with them.
It depends almost entirely on the size of the drainage area and what the soil turns out to be, because those two things set how much excavation and amendment the installation needs. A focused rain garden off a single downspout is a different job from one sized to take a whole driveway. Aaron will give you a real number after walking the property rather than a range that means nothing.
A typical residential rain garden is a few days on site once work starts. Excavation and soil rebuilding take the bulk of it. Planting goes quickly by comparison. The garden then needs a first season to establish before it looks the way it will look.
Yes, but only if the installation accounts for it. Clay does not infiltrate on its own, so the soil profile beneath the basin has to be dug out and rebuilt. Every one of the 66 rain gardens Aaron has built in this county sits in the same soil you have, and they were inspected by county staff and confirmed correctly built.
Aaron designs rain gardens that are genuinely beautiful while solving the water problems that have been frustrating you.
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