Oregon State University has published The Oregon Rain Garden Guide, which pretty much is what the name implies – an authoritative guide to rain gardens. All the steps are covered, from mapping and selecting the site, to choosing the plants, and maintaining it once it is completed. You can read the HTML version of the guide, or download it as a PDF. The PDF version is more authoritative, as it has pictures and diagrams the other version lacks. Either way, it’s well worth checking out.

The Corvallis Gazette-Times did a nice feature story on the guide, and rain gardens in general. It talks about how Trish Daniels, a member of the Corvallis City Council, built a rain garden to solve basement flooding that was caused by a cracked stormwater pipe. It’s another example of plants solving problems.

From all indications, garden centers and garden designers can expect more interest in rain gardens — and growers, likewise, can expect more interest in rain garden plants.