Standing Water Is A Real Killer… Landscape Drainage Ideas To Move Water

If you are looking at your yard and thinking a “River Runs through It” you are not by yourself.  With our recent rains many homeowners are thinking the same thing.

Moving water away from your home sometimes can be remedied by simple grading.  Unfortunately many times in new construction the site is not graded for positive drainage away from the home.  Standing water around the foundation can create serious problems not only with the foundation but with your landscape plants as well.

Gutters and downspouts are your second defense for positive landscape drainage.  Huge roofs produce huge amounts of water coming off of a home.  It’s important to make sure that your gutters are clean of debris and the drain lines are not clogged.

After you have successfully landscaped your property, filling it with trees, attractive shrubs and flowers, don’t let all of this beauty wash away. Understanding the importance of landscape drainage will protect your investment, while adding the additional touch of attractiveness to your yard.

Dealing With Puddles in Landscape Drainage

Besides being unsightly, standing water can cause a lot of problems in your landscape.  If too much water accumulates around the base of trees, shrubs or flowerbeds, root rot can develop, which will ultimately cause them to die.  Homeowners lose more plants from too much water than they do from not enough water.  But standing water is a real killer!

Landscape drainage doesn’t have to be a large or expensive process; however, it does depend on the slope of your property and the placement of the plants. A simple fix for flowerbeds or shrubs is make sure that when they are planted that you raise them slightly above ground level and to pack the soil tightly around them so that excess water runs off the plants. Raising flowerbeds or creating a berm, (an elevated mound), from rocks or mulch can direct extra water away from the plant’s roots.

With the Zika Virus now spreading across the US, proper landscape drainage is another reason to eliminate standing water in your yard.  Everywhere that water puddles and stagnates creates a breeding ground for insects and mosquitoes.

Rain Gardens Are both Functional and Beautiful for Landscape Drainage

While landscape drainage serves a definite purpose, it can also be an attractive addition to any landscape.  Rain Gardens are another way to solve drainage issues.  Rain Gardens are built into low areas in your landscape and houses native plants and flowers.  It is designed to hold water runoff while it seeps into the ground without damaging the rest of your landscape.

A drainage pond may be another alternative for landscape drainage. It is another larger area created to hold excess water. It’s made with decorative stones and gives the appearance of a natural pond. By adding landscape plants around it, it can add to the illusion of a peaceful pond in the middle of a yard.

If you have water issues in your landscape, call us. We have landscape drainage solutions for all of your lawn drainage problems.