TinaMcG's Blog

We have a water problem on our property. It isn't getting to the house, but it's going all over where we don't want it. Apparently, our three acres is handling the drainage from the open, barren 25 acres just to the north of us. New "acreage" subdivision -- no one plants anything -- no surprise about all the water, I guess.

But we have to deal with it, and to that end, we've talked to engineers. Everyone wants $2000 to shoot elevations and do a grading plan. I know this is the most sensible approach, but i'm not sure the problem is so severe as to spend all that for a plan. So we keep talking to other companies that deal with this sort of thing, and we wait for the spring rains.

I've been rereading all my tree and perennial books this winter, researching the best woody plants for Kansas. I now have a long list of things I'll be buying, and it's amazing how many of them are wetland plants: willows, baldcypress, alders, viburnums for wet spots, etc.  I'm even shopping for rushes and horsetails for the drainage ditches scattered around the property.

I can design other peoples' landscapes. It's my own that stumps me.