Rain Garden, Here We Come!

My husband and I met with the DNR rep today to sign the paperwork for the watershed project. He said that we would be shooting for a $1000 budget with the project grant picking up 70% (that's $700 for those mathematically challenged readers).

Our plant list consists of things like Joe Pye weed, milkweed, asters, various grasses, echinacea, goldenrod, queen of the prairie, trillium, and ironweed. There is a much bigger list, of course, but these were some of the plants that caught my eye. I'm very excited about the plant choices, in fact.

They are also pushing the rain barrels pretty hard. I don't know much about them, but I am hesitant to get one. Three reasons: I'm concerned about stagnant, mosquito infested water; I am concerned about the way it will look; and I am worried that they will have to "modify" our current old-fashioned rounded gutters (they would be VERY DIFFICULT to fix or replace!). If any of you have rain barrel experience please feel free to either ease or feed my fears.