Apparently only the 2nd photo posted? Here's photo 1:

And photo 3:

If it helps clarify, I'm working with a professional landscaping company to get the grade of the yard sorted out. So whatever my final plan is, it will be working within that context (and shouldn't put undue pressures on my neighbor's property)

OK. I offered my contribution but it sounds like you've got your bases covered on that account. Insofar as the rain garden, others might jump in and help if you ask some specific question. I could not really identify what information you're after. You might refocus and rephrase it.

Hi HU. You are on the right track.

Keeping the rain garden more than 10' away from a structure is true about any building with a basement. You can modify this to about 5' if it is a garage, HOWEVER, if it is your neighbor's garage, you want to be more conservative and keep it at 10' away. Just so they aren't worried and you keep up good neighborly relations.

Your spot looks like a good spot - away from both buildings. Like Yardvaark posted, the grading should be downslope away from any of those structures, which means your rain garden can be between them.

Other than that, I would think about preserving any lawn play space you might want to have. (Like, if you were to have a yard cocktail/dinner/croquet party, wouldn't it be smack dab in the middle of that lawn?) And where could you put this garden so that you have something nice to look at. Will you see it from your kitchen window? :) Those are nice things to think about.

Then, to make the final decision and you have mapped out all your options, choose the location that makes your heart sing! :)

www.MasterRainGardener.org

It's been almost a year, but, what a year it's been. Back at this (finally). With a new location. Which was part of the big hold up. (That, and winter.)

The green marker paint shows the outline of the proposed garden. It's 9-10 feet away from the back of the garage (blue building). It is right next to my shed, but the shed is on a wooden platform that is staked into the ground and likely has a woodchuck living under it, so if it makes that an undesirable burrow location, even better.

At 40 square feet (8 feet long, 5 feet wide) it's exactly 2% of the surface area that'll be redirected to it. Part of the challenge was figuring out how to get the water to it (it's uphill from the current bottom of the downspout) but I have A Plan for that. That plan involves redirecting the water through a river rock lined wooden trough that is leveled/angled for downhill water movement to the uphill garden location, including nice aesthetics with the practicality of water movement.

Here's the first possible shape design I put together to get a 40 square foot rain garden. It does shove a fair amount of the area in between my shed and a chain link fence, though. Really, I'm thinking I'll just put paving stone in that back pocket to deter groundhogs

It's straight forward and possibly boring, but this is essentially what I marked out in spray paint above and is still my favorite design possibility thus far. I need simplicity in something in my life

Yes, I did consider a curvilinear design. I also really dislike the thought of having to follow that outline with a lawn mower or other grass trimming device.

I also considered having three smaller pool areas that overflow from one to the other to the next. Kind of like larger scale Green Infrastructure. And, while I still like this idea, It feels like a lot of work and maintenance. And I want something that will be able to exist pretty much on its own with minimal care from me once installed.

Based on the flower spread for each plant, here's approximately what and where I want to plant the plants that caught my interest.

It very likely may look a mess. But I like this layout. And it's centered around having something blooming from April through September, with a lot of hummingbird friendly flowers.

Digging the garden

Final plantings

What is the edging, is there a liner?

There is a border. I wanted something to separate the garden from the grass, and I cut a notch in the side closest to the camera for a water spill-over. Like a weir.

Got any more pics of the rock lined wooden trough?