Tropical Storm Hanna came through North Carolina today. By 9:00am, we had 5" of rain here in Chapel Hill. We were fortunate that the winds didn't do any damage here at our home. There are a few plants and shrubs in the garden that need a litte assistance from being blown over a bit. One of the advantages of growing perennials is that if they have to be cut back from storm damage, they should still come back next year.Our rain garden handled the rains that washed down from the road and front meadow. The rain garden dumps into our dry streambed that channels and filters the water underneath our driveway and down to our lower meadow where it eventually reaches a natural creek in our woods.
The outer garden (that's our deer resistant garden) is planted on a slope. We also took measures to help prevent soil erosion on the slope. The perennials and shrubs help hold the soil. At the top meadow edge of the garden there is also a French drain that helps prevent the garden from washing away. The French drain is basically a ditch filled with gravel. It routes the water all the way around the meadow edge of the garden where it dumps into the dry streambed. When we receive a lot of rainfall at once, then there will be some overflow into the garden.
