Book Review: Rain Gardens

Rain Gardens:Sustainable Landscaping for a Beautiful Yard and a Healthy World
by Lynn M. Steiner and Robert W. Domm

192 pages
Voyageur Press, 2012
List price: $24.99

In recent years, awareness has risen not only about the problem of water collecting in places where it shouldn't, but also the problem with run-off, and what to do with it. All sorts of toxins run unfiltered into our waterways. Not good. What's a homeowner to do?

One of the answers comes in the form of a pretty simple solution: rain gardens. Lynn Steiner and Robert Domm have compiled a comprehensive guide for constructing them in their new book, Rain Gardens. With explanations that are easy to understand, and illustrations and photographs that show and tell, the home gardener can plan and build a rain garden for their own property with confidence.

I attended a rain garden workshop two years ago, and though having someone there who could answer questions and guide the planning of your own rain garden was helpful, this book is every bit as valuable as that hands-on planning session. The book itself is beautifully laid out and the information is as thorough as can be, without being stuffy. I'm much more motivated to create a rain garden of my own after reading it.

Rain Gardens should be in every county extension office library, every bookstore, every home improvement store, and on your bookshelf if you have a property that can benefit from having a rain garden. Buy it and build it.

Lynn Steiner has a master's degree in horticulture and is one of the Upper Midwest's best-known gardening writers. The author of three Landscaping with Native Plants books and the former editor of Northern Gardener magazine, she is a frequent speaker at gardening and environmental events. Steiner lives in Stillwater, Minnesota.

Robert Domm is a scientist with the Water Resources Group of Tetra Tech, Inc., where he specializes in stormwater best management practices. As a photographer, his work has appeared in numerous publications including magazines, textbooks, and calendars. Author of several books, including Michigan Yesterday & Today and Lake Michigan Backroads, Domm lives in Rives Junction, Michigan.