Perfect weather to build a rain garden

Seattle area has had a fantastic spring.  Since sometime in May the daily rains and cool temps have stopped  and we have had excellent dry weather with temps above normal and clear skies after the morning clouds clear away.  This weekend has been exceptional with bright blue skies and temps around 75 with low humidity and very light wind.  A perfect day to plant.....
93 FRIGGIN WATER LOVING PLANTS SO KITSAP COUNTY WOULD BE REASSURED THAT THE RAINWATER THAT LANDS ON OUR ROOF WILL NOT RUN DIRECTLY INTO THE OCEAN WHICH IS AT LEAST 1/2 MILE AWAY.  Never mind that my property is 12 acres and for it to absorb run off from my roof which is roughly 2,500 sq ft is trivial.

Today when you build a new house in the county you have to show on your plans how you intend to handle rainwater that lands on your roof.  If you live in the city there is probably a storm sewer which you can connect to that will take your rainwater and pipe it; probably untreated, directly to the Sound which of course is part of the pacific ocean.  For some reason if you live in the country where there are no storm sewers, you must make provisions to have the rainwater be absorbed by your own property.  You have several choices as to how you accomplish this.  You can build an infiltration trench which is a concrete pit that will hold the water until it can be absorbed by the ground or you can build a "rain garden".  The bureaucrats really love rain gardens because they sound so cool and so "green" that it makes them sound like they are socially conscious and doing the right thing for the betterment of society.    Never mind that they cost about $3,000 to build and must be populated with another $1,500 worth of water loving plants to "absorb" this water and render it harmless.  Never mind that rainwater is quite harmless to begin with.  And never mind that right next to my house is a 0.5 acre pond which was built 40 years ago for the purpose of storing water that drained from the site during the wet season.  But could I run my roof water to my pond?  Nooooooo!  I needed to build and pay for a rain garden.

Sure it is very aesthetically appealing and because we had to build it we will make the most of it and make it a landscape feature.  So, enough of the rant.  Here is the rain garden under construction and the finished product after Dee and I spend most of today planting the 93 plants recommended by our nursery for the rain garden.

This is the construction of the rain garden.  Basically they dig 2 holes about 6 feet deep and we chose to have two circles about 16 feet in diameter, to give us the proper area needed to absorb the water from our roof area.  We connected the two circles with a little juncture that, some day I will build a nice cedar bridge over.  But in total that will give us about 500 sq feet of rain garden - the county required 400 sq ft.  Then they fill the holes with a special mix of small pea gravel and compost.  This is a very porous grow mix that will support the plants and will absorb water easily.  We asked the company that did the final work to use large rocks we had on the property to shore up the spot where the two circles are connected.

 The sides of the holes must be a 3:1 slope.  This is specified by the regulations

 When that is all done the plant lady placed the plants and then Dee and I did the grunt work to plant them all.

 Now are you ready for some irony?  These plants are designed to handle a lot of water that is their roots like to be wet.  Well guess what?  Summers in Seattle area are actually fairly dry so you have to water your rain garden for about half the year.

Our politicians wonder why people arm themselves heavily, move to remote sections of Idaho or Montana and live in a barter economy.  I'm starting to get it!