The season’s first rains are pouring down, running off your roof, down your driveway and into the streets, storm drains, creeks and ultimately to the bay and ocean. What if you could capture that runoff instead and use it for your garden, with the excess percolating downward to recharge our local aquifers and purify the water as it passes through the soil? Learn how rain gardens keep water on site, how to construct them, and which California native plants are best suited for them.

Alan Hackler is the owner of Bay Maples, a design-build firm and native plant nursery in the South Bay. His own rain garden was on the Going Native Garden Tour and he has built many rain gardens for clients. Alan studied permaculture and environmental studies, and is a Build-It Green member with LEED and Graywater accreditations.