SE Portland Rainwater Garden
Basement Flooding → Native Rainwater Garden
The Problem
Rainwater was moving toward the house and contributing to basement flooding. We needed to slow it down, move it away from the foundation, and give it somewhere safe to soak into the landscape.
What We Did
We shaped a natural system of channels and shallow basins that slows, spreads, and sinks rainwater through the yard. Then we planted hundreds of native plants whose roots help hold soil, filter water, and create a living rain garden.
Front Yard: Before
The Result
A beautiful rainwater garden that feels like it has always belonged here. It also became a refuge for an unusually diverse collection of native plants—including locally rare species that can be difficult to find in nurseries.
What started as a water problem became one of the property's most biodiverse areas.
