Rain Gardens to the Rescue

Restoration and Rain Gardens 2025 Report

 Thanks to generous supporters like you, Friends of the Rouge continues to expand the reach and impact of restoring the Rouge River watershed with Rain Gardens. In 2025, your contributions helped power 12 new rain gardens across the watershed, along with 4 additional native flower and pollinator gardens—bringing more beauty, more habitat, and more stormwater solutions to the neighborhoods that need them most.

This year’s work has been especially meaningful in communities like Southwest Detroit, River Rouge, and Dearborn’s Southend, where residents face disproportionate flooding and pollution from nearby industry. With your support, these neighborhoods gained:

• 11,863 square feet of new rain gardens
• 57,064 gallons of stormwater storage per storm
• 232,630 square feet of drainage area now capturing and filtering runoff
• 10,197 native forbs and grasses planted, along with 41 shrubs and 1,286 new trees
• 4 new native plant gardens totaling 6,360 square feet

Every one of these installations represents a home protected, a street beautified, and a community strengthened.

Throughout the June training series, participants learned how rain gardens work, how to design their own, and how to care for them longterm. This year’s class brought together a passionate group of residents eager to take action for cleaner water and healthier neighborhoods. At the final workshop, each participant presented a custom garden design—plans that will soon come to life with native plants, volunteer support, and the tools and materials provided through your generosity.

As heavy rainstorms become more frequent, the need for green infrastructure grows. Your support ensures that more families can protect their homes, more pollinators can find habitat, and more neighborhoods can flourish with native plants and cleaner water.

With increasingly frequent, heavy rainstorms, we need your support more than ever to help our communities stay healthy by managing stormwater. Thank you for your continued support of Rain Gardens to the Rescue!

Links:

• https://therouge.org/rain-gardens-to-the-rescue/
• https://therouge.org/master-rain-gardener/
• https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/redford-townships-new-rain-garden-will-prevent-flooding-soak-up-gallons-stormwater