Welcome to Rain Garden UK

Rain Garden UK’s workshops and talks will help you make your green space part of the solution, not the problem. Creating a simple, attractive and biodiverse rain garden or rain planter in your own garden is achievable and fun. Sign up to an event here!

Upcoming events

Book your place onto one of our upcoming workshops or talks and find out how easy it is to add a rain garden or rain planter to your garden or outside space. If you’d like a bespoke workshop package or talk for your group or organisation please get in touch.

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Our funding partners

Thames Water
Wiltshire Wildlife Community Fund

Why do we need rain gardens?

As climate changes we are seeing more cloudburst type rainfall, with heavy deluges that overwhelm our drainage network, causing local flooding and overflows of untreated sewage. These are often followed by long dry periods, so it’s important that we look for ways to slow the flow of stormwater, catch what we need to water our gardens and create space for water to soak into the ground slowly instead of rushing off taking sediment and other pollutants down drains to either the river or the sewage treatment works.

Benefits of a rain garden

Rain gardens and rain planters are a type of a Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS). They can be small depressions in the ground or planters which provide a safe space for water to slowly soak into during and after rainfall. They are a beautiful addition to a garden and are simple to construct and plant.

Manage water quantity

Manage water quantity

Reduced local flooding

Increased resilience to drought

Recharged groundwater

Provide Amenity

Provide Amenity

Creative planting

Interesting outdoor spaces

Urban cooling

Butterfly

Enhance biodiversity

Enhance biodiversity

Habitat creation

Food for pollinators & birds

Healthy soils

Improve water quality

Improve water quality

Cleaner rivers and streams

Fewer sewage overflows

Natural Filtration

Feedback from our workshops

Rain Garden UK

 “Great mix of theory and practical”

Rain Garden UK

“The fabulous ideas and explanations”

Rain Garden UK

“Small and large tips that make it seem really possible to implement”

Rain Garden UK

“Inspiring examples and very clear, detailed instructions”

Rain Garden UK

“Learning about water, climate change and what we can do about it”

Rain Garden UK

“Being made to think about where our water goes in the face of climate change and urbanisation”

Rain Garden UK

“Really enjoyed the background information at the beginning – learning about the river, drainage, sewerage systems”

Rain Garden UK

“Helped understand why rain gardens are important and why you are doing it”