#GiftGreener: Gift RainScapes

It’s that gifting time of year!  Wonder what to get for your loved ones? Does anyone on your gift list enjoy gardening? Lucky for you, Montgomery County has the RainScapes program to help reduce stormwater runoff and make your garden more green! The RainScapes program offers technical and financial assistance to encourage property owners to implement RainScapes techniques on their property.

Gift information about the RainScapes Reward Rebate Program

The RainScapes Rewards Rebate Program offers rebates to property owners who install RainScapes techniques such as rain gardens, rain barrels, conservation landscaping and other approved projects that help control stormwater. This program is open to properties in Montgomery County outside the municipalities of Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Takoma Park.  Find out if your or your family members property qualifies by reading more on the website.

Rain gardens are a beautiful way to use your landscape to soak up and filter rainwater and keep it from going directly into streams.  When you use native plants in your garden, you help create a diverse habitat with food sources for birds and beneficial insects likes honeybees and butterflies. You can find out more by visiting our Projects & Incentives page.

Gift a Book about Gardening 

Some books RainScapes staff have been reading lately might provide inspiration to those looking for landscape based books.  If you were to choose one, consider Climate-Wise Landscaping. This book tackles the actions that individuals can undertake to redesign their landscapes to be more resilient in the face of changing conditions, and suggests changes which will support soil-food webs, pollinators all while helping to create cleaner air and assist in the effort to better manage our watersheds. As they say in their forward: “Instead of wringing our hands, we prefer to roll up our sleeves”.

Remember that you can also give an eBook instead of paper. Or consider the library.  Make it a date! Look online to see which Montgomery County Library has a copy of the book and make a date with your family or friend to get the book from the library.  If the area is new to you, think about exploring the area.  Find local restaurants or attractions like trails!  There are lots of options. You get to spend quality time with your loved one and Gift Greener! Remember this season is about enjoying time with your family and friends.

Here are some of the books recommended by RainScapes staff:

• Plant-Driven Design by Scott Ogden and Lauren Springer Ogden
• A New Garden Ethic by Benjamin Vogt
• The Living Landscape – Designing for Beauty and Biodiversity in the Home Garden by Rick Darke & Doug Tallamy
• The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
• The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
• Botany for Gardeners by Brian Capon
• Biophilia by E. I. Wilson
• A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir by Don Worster
• Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted by Justin Martin