"When a nor’easter recently hit the Eastern Seaboard, it transformed my driveway into a stretch of whitewater rapids and nearly obliterated my perennials, their shapes irretrievably distorted by high winds and heavy rain. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time.
And it won’t be the last: Scientists predict an increase in extreme weather events, including storms and floods, fed in part by human-caused climate change.
I swept, then hosed, the debris off the blacktop, and used twine to wrangle my mums and catmints back into shape, at least until cold weather does them in. But my experiences and scientists’ predictions have got me planning a rain garden.
Simply put, a rain garden is a depressed bed planted with native perennials and shrubs selected for their high-water tolerance. It’s strategically situated in a spot where water — from downspouts, driveways, compacted soil and other sources of runoff — flows downward toward it. That runoff waters the plants and filters pollutants as the soil absorbs it. And it means the excess water, as well as the road sediment, debris, pet waste pathogens, fertilizers and chemicals it picks up along the way, is kept out of storm drains, watersheds and wetlands."
Jessica Damiano reports for the Associated Press October 6, 2026.
