Rainscaping Guide: What Do You Know About Your Site?

Check with your local municipality for landscaping regulations that may apply in your community.

You may want to create a scaled drawing of existing conditions. Mapping the property in a scaled drawing provides key information as to where rainwater management practices can be implemented. In addition, this will help you identify problem areas in the landscape that need to be solved. Then you can create a drawing that incorporates your chosen designs.

Download graph paper to begin making your scaled drawing
Download drawing instructions and an example

Consider including the following in your drawing (click on each topic in the flowchart below to view that section):

Identify Shade/Sun Patterns

Identify the north-south orientation of the property. Determine and note patterns of sun and shade and the time of day that it occurs. Shade-loving plants need shade from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in mid-summer (June–August) in St. Louis. Keep in mind that the sun/shade areas change with the seasons—in other words, where it is shady in the winter can often be hot and sunny in mid-summer.

Continue on to Understand Your Soil