Dry Crick Bed with a French Drain

Over 12 years ago we met a man who had seen a concept in a restaurant that he wanted to incorporate into his yard. He wanted his outdoor space to have a border around it with lots of ornamental plants. This created a drainage problem, water flowed through the yard to a drain channel normally and then to a storm drain.

We decided to put one and a half-inch rocks between the border and the plants to create a dry stream. There is a perforated pipe beneath the rocks, creating an open french drain. Now more than 12 years later, this system has proven itself over and over. It continues to work well and handle all the water coming off of this large patio area.

During heavy rain, there is a lot of water coming off of the house. We tied in some downspouts but putting them on top of the french drain system. There’s the storm drain, you can see the cover. We removed about 12 inches of concrete by making a hole and fed the discharge line through it.