With extreme summer weather bringing heavy rains and flash floods, many U.S. homeowners are searching for solutions to prevent waterlogged yards. One clever TikTok video featured a stylish and practical landscaping fix — a dry creek bed.
Shared by Walters Gardens (@waltersgardens), the video showed a rainy day in West Michigan, where a dry creek bed redirects water through a yard, preventing pooling and flooding.
@waltersgardens After a long, dry summer, we finally got some rain in West Michigan yesterday!🌧️ Before we installed this dry creek bed, our parking lot would flood during storms like this. Now, the water has a natural path to follow. Dry creek beds are not only decorative — they help guide and slow down runoff, moving water more efficiently through the landscape without causing erosion or pooling🤩 #waltersgardens #gardening #drycreek #flowers #gardeninspiration #gardendesign #perennialgarden #perennials #educational #landscapedesigner #waterfeature #plantsmakepeoplehappy #gardeningtherapy ♬ OZZY OSBOURNE Dreamer - themusicofmonik
The company mentioned that its parking lot would flood during storms before it decided to install a dry creek bed. "Dry creek beds are not only decorative — they help guide and slow down runoff, moving water more efficiently through the landscape without causing erosion or pooling," they wrote in the video description.
Wicki Stone shared that a dry creek bed is a stream-like landscape feature built using rocks, boulders, spill rocks, and plants. According to Lowe's, people build it by digging a shallow channel for rainwater or snowmelt to flow, solving flooding and drainage issues.
While a dry creek bed controls where the water flows, pairing it with a natural lawn — one with native plants — ensures that rainwater and snowmelt are absorbed, pollinators are supported, and yards keep thriving through heavy rains and heat waves.
Natural lawns attract local native pollinators such as birds, butterflies, and bees, which are essential to the ecosystem, as noted by Pollinator Partnership. According to the National Park Service, at least 75% of flowering plants depend on pollinators, which support over 180,000 different plant species that nurture soil, supply oxygen, and sustain wildlife.
Aside from installing a dry creek bed and upgrading to a natural lawn, other landscaping options such as xeriscaping — designed to reduce or eliminate the need for supplemental water, as explained by National Geographic Education — and partial lawn replacements can help homeowners save money on lawn maintenance and water bills.
TikTok users were grateful to learn about this stunning but effective landscaping feature for solving flooding and drainage issues.
"Beautiful, I love this setup!" one user wrote.
"As someone with drainage issues when the summer storms come, this is something I need to look into!" another commented.
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