TikToker Brooke Morgan (@whatbrookemorgan) has a beautiful solution to your outdoor drainage problem — an eco-friendly rain garden.

Why let those downpours trickle to nearby waterways when you can capture them and save money on garden irrigation? 

@whatbrookemorgan In my shade to partial shade tolerant rain garden I have: 🐘 Elephant ear (Aloha and Hawaiian Punch varieties) 🌾 Inland Sea Oats 🌿 Wood Fern 🌼 Yellow Longspur Columbine 🪻 Obedient Plant All of these plants are either perennials or they come back each year, making low maintenance DIY solution to a soggy spot in the backyard. Drop your questions or plant suggestions for a rain garden!👇🏻 #RainGarden #EcoFriendlyLiving #SustainableLandscaping #GreenLiving #WaterConservation #NativePlants #StormwaterSolutions #GardenInspiration ♬ original sound - Brooke Morgan

That's exactly how Brooke fixes her soggy lawn area. In the video, she remarks how the garden looks "sad ... because it's winter" before cutting to an image showing it "in its full glory" with towering plants.

Per Brooke's advice, winter is the best time to establish a rain garden. The process involves laying down 12 to 18 inches of stones adjacent to your foundation, along with cardboard and mulch in the garden area.

The Texas resident planted natives, including inland sea oats, columbine, and wood fern. The low-maintenance garden plants will either "reseed itself or come back from its bulb down in the ground." 

By diverting your rainwater into a garden, you can avoid potentially expensive foundation damage. The plants remove sediment from the rain, acting as a natural filter for groundwater and reducing contaminated runoff that enters public waterways.

Anyone inspired by Brooke's TikTok video can look into the rewilding process. 

Over three years, another TikToker converted her yard from "a dump into a flourishing garden." Part of her success stemmed from cutting dead plants off at the base and letting the roots naturally decompose nutrients into the soil.

Instead of keeping with the neighbors' boring manicured lawns, one Redditor praised the "chaos and the months-long flowering" of a natural lawn. Allowing nature to take hold means less time spent on maintenance, lower costs, and reduced air pollution from traditional mowing.

Whether you invest in a rain garden, plant buffalo grass, add flowering groundcover like horseherb, or use xeriscaping, native vegetation supports pollinator conservation and food chain security by providing protection and foraging space for these insects. 

If you were to switch from a grass lawn to a more natural option, which of these factors would be your primary motivation? Making it look better 🌱 Saving money on water and maintenance 💰 Helping pollinators 🐝 No way I ever get rid of my lawn 🚫 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

For example, pollinators like the monarch butterfly caterpillar only nest in and feed on milkweed — another native Texas plant. 

You don't need to cover your entire lawn, as even a partial replacement can help. One homeowner worked some garden magic with their hell strip — the grassy area between the street and sidewalk.

"I'd love a rain garden. Sadly, I'm on The Ridge in central Florida," said one commenter.

Another remarked, "I have a well that drains out into a part of my yard. I think I'm going to cover it in elephant ears."

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