Thinking of putting in a rain garden but don’t know where to begin? Join staff from the City of Edmonds and Snohomish County Conservation District on a tour to explore rain gardens in the Perrinville Creek Watershed from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 5.

Using the Rain Garden Handbook for Western Washington as a guide, attendees will explore the process of designing, building and maintaining a rain garden, and see examples of key principles at work.

According to a city press release, rain gardens are an important tool in protecting water quality and riparian habitat in Western Washington, where stormwater in urbanized areas causes flooding, erosion, and water pollution. The city said it has been helping residents install private rain gardens in the community since 2015, with a focus on building multi-residential clusters of rain gardens in neighborhoods where stormwater retention has been identified as a priority to reduce flooding and erosion in local creeks.

As part of an overall strategy to control flooding in the Perrinville Creek Watershed, the City of Edmonds and Snohomish Conservation District have teamed up to install a network of both public and private rain gardens within the watershed. Developed in 2020, this evolving Perrinville project is the fourth such stormwater management cluster the City has overseen.

Tour participants will receive a copy of the Rain Garden Handbook for Western Washington to take home, and a list of local resources to help get them get started building their own rain garden. The event is free, but registration is required. To register, visit reczone.org and search for Rain Garden Tour.

For more information, email Jennifer Leach at Jennifer.leach@edmondswa.gov or call 425-771-0227.