SHOWER POWER

Locals let rain gardens soak up the storm.

- GRACE HEBRON

WHEN IT RAINS, it pours. At least, that’s the case when it comes to Tony Lehman’s front yard in Idlewylde, a neighborhood just south of Towson.

A video taken by the University of Maryland psychiatrist several years back shows what looks to be a river running several inches deep through his lawn and driveway. It’s all stormwater.

“It was really quite extreme,” says Lehman.

In 2016, he sought the help of a contractor to remedy the flooding, which he says was caused by an inadequate neighborhood storm drainage system. That didn’t go to plan. But Lehman wouldn’t need to look very far, as it turned out, to find a plan B. His son, Jackson, had just received his master’s degree in landscaping and architecture, and at his suggestion, the father and son made plans to install a rain garden in Lehman’s front yard.

So, what’s a rain garden?