Rain Garden Subsidy Program

Did you know an average residential rain garden in Peterborough can divert about 1.5 cubic metres of water from storm sewers each year? That’s roughly 9.5 bathtubs of water! By redirecting runoff toward a rain garden, you can keep the watershed healthy, lower the risk of urban flooding, increase your home’s curb appeal, and create habitat for native plants and wildlife. The more residents who participate, the bigger the impact.

Through the Rain Garden Subsidy Program, the City of Peterborough offers eligible homeowners up to $1000 to offset the cost of designing and installing a rain garden in their front or back yard.

We’ve partnered with the municipality to offer applicants extra support through the application process, including on-site consultation visits and design support.

Don’t live within the City of Peterborough? You can still take advantage of the educational resources offered below.

Videos

Watch our four part video series to learn more about the subsidy program and how to build and maintain your own garden. Note that watching these videos is required in order to receive your subsidy.

Click the Playlist button in the top-right hand corner of the video to access parts two through four – note that watching all four videos is essential in order to receive the subsidy.

New to 2023 – Rain Garden Templates

GreenUP has designed two rain gardens for use by anyone who wishes to install a rain garden in the Peterborough region. These templates suit a range of roof sizes and site conditions. We’ve used mostly native plants to maximize secondary benefits like pollinator habitat and biodiversity.

With just a few additional details, these templates can be submitted as part of a landowner’s application to the City of Peterborough Rain Garden Subsidy Program.

Which template should I choose?

Which template should I choose?

Use the table to determine which template makes the most sense for you. If neither template suits the size and shape of your property, use the suggested plant lists as a jumping off point to design your own garden.

	The Classic Rain Garden	The Habitat Garden
Roof Size (catchment area)	25m2 to 75m2	40m2 to 130m2
Garden Bottom Area (m2)	6m2	12m2
Total Required Space (L x W)	4.5m x 3m	6.6m x 4m
Soil type	Sandy to Clay Loam	Sandy to Clay Loam
Sun/shade profile	Full Sun to Mostly Shade (plant substitutions are available for different light profiles)	Full Sun to Part-Shade
Style	Informal, flower-dominant, colourful	Slightly formal, shrub-dominant, lots of autumn and winter interest
Maintenance requirements once established	One to two hours per month during the growing season, slightly more in the spring	Less than an hour per month during the growing season, slightly more in spring
Secondary benefits	Pollinator friendly, biodiversity, some carbon sequestration potential, curb appeal	Bird and pollinator friendly, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, curb appeal, privacy

Need Inspiration?

Check out these rain gardens installed in the Peterborough region for ideas.

This garden combines cultivars of native Switchgrass and cedar with non-native plants, river rock, and logs for a unique backyard feature.
This rain garden combines native and non-native grasses with a native sedge (Carex pensylvanica) for a lush, green look. Wildflowers add small pops of colour throughout the seasons.
Don’t forget about groundcovers! Here, a native ground covering shrub called Bearberry is planted to cover the drought prone berms over time.
There are lots of colourful native plants in this naturalistic front yard rain garden that receives rain barrel overflow.
Blue Lobelia and Swamp Milkweed are excellent choices for the bottom of a native rain garden. Purple Coneflower (a near native species) is well suited for the sides.
Sample RG design sketch on 2022 template.
This rain garden uses height to dramatic effect with plants like Green Headed Coneflower, Ironweed and a Tulip Tree.
This rain garden combines native shrubs and wildflowers with a few non-native selections. Over time, the shrubs, grasses, and groundcovers will fill in to reduce maintenance requirements.

Other Resources

SUN Landscaping Guide by GreenUP

Blue Thumb Rain Garden resources

Toronto and Region Conservation Authority’s Complete Guide to Building and Maintaining a Rain Garden

Ontario Invasive Plant Council’s Grow Me Instead Guide for Southern Ontario (3^rd edition)

Michael Albanese, The Modern Rain Garden: Scrape, Shape, and Plant – available for purchase online

Green Communities Canada’s Rain Garden Masterclass

Program History

The Rain Garden Subsidy program was first offered in 2020, in partnership with the City of Peterborough. Prior to that, GreenUP supported the installation of more than a dozen rain gardens in Peterborough through the Sustainable Urban Neighbourhoods program (2017-2020), a neighbourhood-scale action and planning program funded from Ontario Trillium Foundation, and Ready for Rain (2016-2017), a program to install rain gardens in the Avenues and Bolivar Street neighbourhood (also funded by Ontario Trillium). We’ve worked with many neighbourhood residents and local partners over the years, including Green Communities Canada, City of Peterborough, Basterfield Landscape Architects, and others, to make our urban watershed healthier.

Partners

City of Peterborough

The City of Peterborough supports GreenUP through an annual Community Service Grant. This funding supports many of our programs and services which positively impact Peterborough residents each day....

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