Let it Rain! Planting a rain garden is an effective way to take up water in areas where it tends to accumulate. This large rain garden starter kit will provide you with a collection of 18 plants that support a variety of pollinators, while their long, thirsty roots help manage those low, wet areas in your landscape.
This kit will provide beautiful flowers in a range of colors that will offer good nectar and pollen for pollinators from May-October. They are all fine in full sun to partially shady conditions.
For more information about rain gardens, see: Rain Gardens (City of Ann Arbor)
Design and Planting Tips:
- Allow approximately 1 sq ft for each plant in your garden plot, ex: 4' x 5' plot
- Prepare your garden site (follow the link for details as well as information about plant spacing)
- A location with full sun to partial shade
- All plants selected have deep roots and will grow in damp to wet conditions
- Group plants of the same species together
- Consider the height of each plant. Position taller plants at the back and shorter plants at the front
Kit Contents:
7 varieties, with 2 or 3 of each (18 total plants), all listed below with details. An image of each plant can be found to the left, pictured in the order listed
2 - Culvers Root
3 - Indian Grass
2 - Ironweed
2 - Rose/Swamp Milkweed
3 - Purple Cone Flower
3 - Southern Blue Flag Iris
3 - Switchgrass
Plant Details:
Culver's Root (Veronicastrum virginicum)
Sun Exposure: Full, Partial
Soil Moisture: Moist, Medium, Medium-Dry
Height: 4'-5'
Bloom Time: June-July
Bloom Color: White
Resistance: Deer
Attracts: Butterflies, bees; and birds in fall and winter
Pollinator benefit: Good for native bees; nectar plant in mid-summer
Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans)
Perennial Native Grass (Ornamental)
Sun Exposure: Sun, Part Shade, Shade
Soil Moisture: Dry, Moist
Height: up to 8'
Bloom Time: August-October
Bloom Color: yellow
Tolerance: Drought and Deer
Attracts: Butterflies, birds, bees
Larval Host: Pepper-and-Salt Skipper butterfly
Pollinator benefit: Provides Nesting Materials/Structure for Native Bees (A plant that native bees nest beneath, within, or harvest parts from to construct their nests.)
Ironweed (Veronia missurica)
Sun Exposure: Sun
Soil Moisture: Medium to Wet
Height: 3'to 5'
Bloom Time: July - August
Bloom Color: Magenta purple
Tolerates: Deer, wet soil
Attracts: Butterflies, bees
Pollinator benefit: Good nectar source for all pollinators; Xerces Soc.: Special Value to native bees
Purple Cone Flower (Echinacea purpurea)
Sun Exposure: Full, Partial
Soil Moisture: Medium-Wet, Medium, Medium-Dry
Height: 4'
Bloom Time: July, August, September
Bloom Color: Purple
Tolerate: Deer, drought, heat, humidity and poor soil
Attracts: Butterflies, birds, bees
Pollinator benefit: Host plant for the Ottoe Skipper butterfly; great nectar source for bees and butterflies; Xerces Society designates this plant as having special value for native bees.
Rose Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
Sun Exposure: Full, Partial
Soil Moisture: Wet, Medium-Wet, Medium
Height: 4'
Bloom Time: June, July, August
Bloom Color: Pink
Resistance: Deer
Attracts: butterflies, bees, hummingbirds
Pollinator Benefits: Larval Host for Monarch and Queen butterflies; excellent nectar source for other pollinators; Xerces Society identifies as Special Value to Native Bees and Bumble Bees
Southern Blue Flag (Iris virginica)
Sun Exposure: Sun
Soil Moisture: Wet
Soil type: Moist, rich soil
Height: 2'
Bloom Time: May-June
Bloom Color: White, pink, blue
Resistance: Deer
Attracts: Birds, hummingbirds, butterflies, native bees
Pollinator Benefits: Early season nectar and pollen source for bees and hummingbirds
Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum)
Sun Exposure: Sun, Part Shade
Soil Moisture: Dry, Moist-Wet
Soil Type: Dry to moist soils. Sandy, Sandy Loam, Medium Loam Clay Loam, Clay, Limestone-based.
Height: 3'-6'
Leaf Color: Green
Bloom Color: Green, Brown
Fruiting Time: August-November
Fruit: White, greenish yellow seed heads
Resistance: Deer
Attracts: Butterflies, Birds; Seeds eaten by ground-feeding songbirds and game birds; Provides cover and nesting material.
Pollinator Benefits: Larval Host for Delaware Skipper and Dotted Skipper; nesting materials for non-aggressive native bees