When Hurricane Hilary swept through Southern California in 2023, one Pasadena gardener showed how you can turn stormwater into a huge asset for your yard.
In a TikTok video, Leigh from Studio Petrichor (@thestudiopetrichor), a regeneratively-focused landscape architecture firm, walked viewers through a "whole systems approach" to water management: a yard installation that captures stormwater and redistributes it through multiple "rain gardens."
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The process begins at the street, where runoff is channeled into a first rain garden. From there, excess water seeps beneath a hugelkultur berm, a mound built from logs and organic matter, before filtering into additional rain gardens across the property.
"Water is infiltrating right here, and if there's too much water, it moves on through to the next infiltration," she explains in the video.
The result is a clever, low-tech irrigation system powered by rainfall alone.
"This is such a wonderful thing to see," one viewer wrote.
This kind of yard design offers a number of benefits. It reduces flooding by slowing down stormwater, prevents rainwater from rushing straight into sewers, and provides plants with a steady water source long after the storms are gone. In drought-prone regions like California, having irrigation stores is an incredible advantage.
While building a multi-garden rainwater system might sound labor-intensive, homeowners can start small. Simple methods include installing a rain barrel at the downspout or digging a single rain garden to catch runoff from a driveway. These can turn rainfall into a resource rather than waste.
Pairing these rainwater strategies with native plants can be even more beneficial. Native lawns and gardens require less water, thrive in local conditions, and support pollinators, making them a win-win for homeowners and the environment.
"Love your concept, I want to do the same," another commenter said. "I also want to recycle our gray water, thinking about a system now."
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As this Pasadena yard shows, with a little creativity, every drop of rain can be put to work instead of going to waste.
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