The history of the property

“When we purchased the historic 1890’s Montan Boarding House, we were excited to put our own personal touch on the property and wanted to do that with RainWise. The building housed a speakeasy in the 1920’s, a barbershop in the 1930’s, and Boeing Rosie-the-Riveters in the 1940’s before the huge yard was transformed into an artist’s lush paradise in the 1990’s.

Our tenants are avid gardeners and have a vegetable garden in the back of the building, they all appreciate the rain gardens. We even planted some lettuces and strawberries on the edge of two of our gardens since the veggie gardens are already so full! We chose the orange flowers in our garden to attract the bees. We love our cisterns! We’re artists and saw our garden as another way to express our creativity. The previous owner of our property was a landscape design which is where we got all the clay pots from that we placed throughout the gardens.”

Their RainWise installation

“We worked alongside the landscape architects to design six rain gardens that showed off the wide variety of native plants available in the Pacific Northwest. Our contractors worked to ensure that the gardens blended in with the rest of our yard and reflected our desire for a more natural look.

The idea of adding cisterns and developing a sustainable watering system fit with our environmental ideals and desire to maintain the historic property for the sake of the neighborhood. Helping resolve the larger issue of drainage in the community was just icing on the cake.”

The RainWise process

George worked alongside the landscape architects to design six rain gardens that showed off the wide variety of native plants available in the Pacific Northwest. Elizabeth jumped in once the construction began, and ensured that the gardens blended in with the rest of the yard and reflected the couple’s desire for a more natural look.

Working with the team of people responsible for pulling off such a feat, required diligent communication, patience, and a need to keep the big picture in mind at every step of the way.

Final Thoughts

Elizabeth and George are proud of the end result, and love that they are doing something good for the earth, as well as providing a beautiful garden for the tenants who currently live in the boarding house.