Selma Goker Wilson and her husband Christopher Wilson have installed a rain garden at their Sarasota home through the Rain Check program. Before they installed the rain garden their driveway and front yard used to flood during heavy rain storms. Now they have enjoyed watching their rain garden for for them and the environment. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Architect Selma Goker Wilson gets giddy every time it pours at her Sarasota home. She watches with excitement as her labor of love — a rain garden she and her husband built themselves — is doing an effective job at diverting the heavy flow of water coming off their roof into a downspout and onto flowers and plants.
“Working on it was very therapeutic, learning about all the plants, but seeing the water come out, we come out every time it rains, like ooh, how's it doing?” said Goker Wilson.
She and husband Christopher Wilson, an architecture historian at Ringling College, find joy in adjusting stones and moving plants to increase the amount of stormwater that filters down into their yards instead of flowing onto their concrete street out front. They say it’s about being good stewards to the environment.
“So the rain garden prevents storm water from leaving our property and going out into the street," Christopher Wilson said. "Instead, it goes straight down into the ground.”
It gets filtered naturally by and used by the plants. Instead, of going out in the street and there's oil and there's chemicals, and there's fertilizer.
Sarasota County believes so much in projects like this, it paid for almost the entire thing through it’s new Raincheck program which promotes homeowner projects that promote the ground absorption of stormwater.
“I think it's great. I mean, we spend $527 and then receive $500 from the county through the rain check program,” Christopher Wilson said.
Through this county rebate program, property owners are reimbursed for a variety of eco-friendly projects, from $500 for rain gardens and bioswales, to up to $5,000 to replace impervious driveways and sidewalks with ones that allow water to seep through.
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The Wilsons are fixing up their historic 1940’s home in Sarasota, after seeing their driveway and front yard flood, the couple decided to take advantage of the Rain Check program and install a rain garden. Selma Goker Wilson and her husband Christopher Wilson have installed a rain garden at their Sarasota home through the Rain Check program. Before they installed the rain garden their driveway and front yard used to flood during heavy rain storms. Now they have enjoyed watching their rain garden for for them and the environment. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Pine cones lay in the pine straw. Selma Goker Wilson and her husband Christopher Wilson have installed a rain garden at their Sarasota home through the Rain Check program. Before they installed the rain garden their driveway and front yard used to flood during heavy rain storms. Now they have enjoyed watching their rain garden for for them and the environment. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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The water garden was built by the Wilsons but reimbursed through the Rain Check program. They will install a second rain garden and a new driveway that will allow for more water to seep down instead of running off into the storm drains. Selma Goker Wilson and her husband Christopher Wilson have installed a rain garden at their Sarasota home through the Rain Check program. Before they installed the rain garden their driveway and front yard used to flood during heavy rain storms. Now they have enjoyed watching their rain garden for for them and the environment. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Jennifer Rudolph, leads the Rain Check program, found she too needed the Rain Check program and installed a Bioswale in a problem spot in her back yard. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Jennifer Rudolph, leads the Rain Check program, found she too needed the Rain Check program and installed a Bioswale in a problem spot in her back yard. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Jennifer Rudolph, leads the Rain Check program, found she too needed the Rain Check program and installed a Bioswale in a problem spot in her back yard. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Jennifer Rudolph, leads the Rain Check program, found she too needed the Rain Check program and installed a Bioswale in a problem spot in her back yard. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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They dug out a path for the water once their figured out how the water was flowing. Selma Goker Wilson and her husband Christopher Wilson have installed a rain garden at their Sarasota home through the Rain Check program. Before they installed the rain garden their driveway and front yard used to flood during heavy rain storms. Now they have enjoyed watching their rain garden for for them and the environment. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Jennifer Rudolph, leads the Rain Check program, found she too needed the Rain Check program and installed a Bioswale in a problem spot in her back yard. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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A Bioswale at Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota has been build just outside the University of Florida IFAS Extension office as an example. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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A Bioswale at Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota has been build just outside the University of Florida IFAS Extension office as an example. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Selma Goker Wilson and her husband Christopher Wilson have installed a rain garden at their Sarasota home through the Rain Check program. Before they installed the rain garden their driveway and front yard used to flood during heavy rain storms. Now they have enjoyed watching their rain garden for for them and the environment. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
13 of 16 — WGCURainCheck090525AM
A Bioswale at Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota has been build just outside the University of Florida IFAS Extension office as an example. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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Selma Goker Wilson and her husband Christopher Wilson have installed a rain garden at their Sarasota home through the Rain Check program. Before they installed the rain garden their driveway and front yard used to flood during heavy rain storms. Now they have enjoyed watching their rain garden for for them and the environment. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
15 of 16 — WGCURainCheck090525AM
Selma Goker Wilson and her husband Christopher Wilson have installed a rain garden at their Sarasota home through the Rain Check program. Before they installed the rain garden their driveway and front yard used to flood during heavy rain storms. Now they have enjoyed watching their rain garden for for them and the environment. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
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A Bioswale at Twin Lakes Park in Sarasota has been build just outside the University of Florida IFAS Extension office as an example. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
Jennifer Rudolph, with Sarasota County’s Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team says the RainCheck program will help combat the negative impact of development.
“We just have to be more mindful of the fact that, like, we're taking away wetlands to create hard surfaces, but now we still need those wetlands, or we need something to take up the water, because we're taking away what took up the water before,” said Rudolph. “The more the rain can soak in, the more we can improve water quality in creeks, rivers and ultimately the oceans.”
Rudolph says the program has helped her deal with her own sinking lawn in the corner of her backyard that sits near a drainage pond.
“My backyard was really eroding away and going into the in the stormwater pond before this, taking with it pollutants from everybody else's house,” said Rudolph. “Every single time it rained, more would rush. And you could look on the other side of the fence and see like a pile of sediment sitting there. So it was very obvious that we needed to do something. And it was funny, because I was planning on doing something anyways, and then rain check kind of fell into my lap, and it was like all meant to be.”
She received $500 to create a bioswale. And so she laid down rocks and replaced her grass with plants that have deep roots
“The lawn doesn't hold the soil down as much as you would think it would. Plus lawn, really, like grass requires so much more water,” said Rudolph. “So with frog, fruit and sunshine mimosa, they don't need to be watered all the time, and they'll spread and be happy, even if it is a drought. So I put them in there because I knew that they would help stabilize the ground more than grass would, because grass was just not staying.”
Andrea Melendez/WGCU
Jennifer Rudolph, leads the Rain Check program, found she too needed the Rain Check program and installed a Bioswale in a problem spot in her back yard. Sarasota County home owners are being encouraged to build rain gardens and even their own Bioswale at their homes to help with rain water run off through a reimbursement program called Rain Check.
Rudolph says her bioswale is cheaper than maintaining a lawn.
“It rains, it grows and everything's happy,” she said.
She and the Wilson’s say they enjoy supporting insects and wildlife with their projects.
For the Wilson’s, the savings means they can invest more in restoring their historic 1940’s metal kit home to prime condition.
They’ll use the rebate program to help with a new driveway soon and a second rain garden is also in the plans.
This home both inside and out is about giving back to the community by raising awareness about the importance of taking individual responsibility to use the region’s resources responsibly.
“How we deal with rainwater as an individual responsibility. It's, it's something we all have to do within our capacity, and if we have a property, we have a responsibility to the wider community,” said Selma.
“A journey of 1000 miles begins with one step, and this is our one step,” said Christopher Wilson.
Most residents in Sarasota county can participate in this program getting both financial and expertise help with two projects—it is first come, first serve.
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