Landscape to Protect Your Yard from Heavy Rains

Water is the lifeblood of your yard, and rain can be one of your greatest allies in helping your plants grow. However, it can also be a great enemy. Heavy rain can cause flooding in your garden, which can damage plants and ruin the viability of your soil. This doesn’t have to be the case, though, if you properly equip yourself and your garden against heavy rain. Here are our best tips for landscaping your yard to protect it from heavy rains.

Prepare your lawn

If your lawn is too compacted, then it won’t be able to absorb much water, meaning the rain water will sit on the surface, making your lawn waterlogged and potentially flooded. Properly aerating your lawn will improve its absorption, allowing water to soak down deeper into the soil. For especially heavy rain, spreading organic mulch over your lawn can help to stop it from getting too water logged. The mulch will absorb some of the rain water, reducing the amount that your soil and lawn have to handle.

Direct the rain water properly

You don’t want all the water pooling in one area. That area will flood and all the plants and flowers located there will pay for it. If part of your garden is located at the bottom of a slope, then try to level it off by placing top soil, so that the rain water spreads more evenly across the yard. You can also create run off areas to direct the water away from your plants, towards a drain or a water feature, for example, or just away from your home and garden.

The best plants for heavy rains

Planting in raised beds, around 6 to 12 inches above the surrounding soil, is a good line of defence for plants during heavy rain. But, are there certain plants that can cope better with this kind of weather? Plants that are suited to be grown in clay soils are better equipped to handle heavy rains than other plants. Buddleias, hardy fuchsias, hydrangeas, and hardy geraniums are all good ideas for planting. If your garden is sloped, then planting dense grass and shrubs along the slope will help to absorb some of the water along the way, reducing the amount that reaches and pools at the bottom of the slope.

If you need landscaping equipment to help protect your yard from heavy rains, check out the range of products we have available online or get in touch for more advice from our expert team. We serve across North Carolina, including Winston Salem, Greensboro, High Point, and Kernersville.