- © 2026 Annapolis Home Magazine
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by Kymberly Taylor
Photography by Kate Wichlinski
“How can you make stormwater poetic and integrate art?” – Mila Antova
Artistry and stormwater management are rarely mentioned in the same breath. In fact, the most common approach to rainwater management is to pipe the water off the site, notes Mila Antova, a principal at Moody Graham Landscape Architecture. However, when her client Jerry Chang asked her to solve severe flash flooding at his home in McLean, Virginia, she began to think creatively about fresh solutions, drawing upon her study of stormwater, ecology, people, and art.
“Most people think storm water is a nuisance, and yes, it is scary and can be devastating. How can we change that? How can we work together with city engineers, collaborate with professionals, and think of different ways to harness the storm and surface runoff?” she asks.
Chang wanted freedom from floods and a garden for mental rejuvenation that reflected the orthogonal lines of his modern home. Antova wanted a storm management plan and much more—a system that could not only solve flooding, but also help people learn about natural processes while enjoying their garden at the same time. “How can you make stormwater poetic and integrate art?” she asks.
Rain Symphony was her answer. Composed of underground pipes that collect storm runoff and direct it to bio-retentive gardens, Rain Symphony is dotted with vegetated swales, boulders that double as seating, and inventive steel runnels that artfully divert rushing waters. Runnels made of Corten steel weave through the garden and then rise, splitting into two levels. When at rest, they are intriguing sculptural forms that develop a patina over time. When activated by heavy storms, unsightly runoff travels along the rails and becomes a glistening waterfall. “The drizzling and drumming, the humming and roar of the rain bring the runnels to life. The garden comes to life, transforming something that is scary and unwanted into something beautiful that connects you to nature,” says Antova.
As the project evolved, she worked closely with her colleagues at Moody Graham, civil engineer Greg Budnik, and Oldetowne Landscape Architects. Among other things, they shortened the front driveway and reshaped the entire topography, integrating trees, shrubs, grasses, and groundcovers. Vegetation slows down surface runoff and aids absorption into the ground, where microbe-laden soil and plants filter and clean the water. Plantings include layers of spring bulbs, sweet bay magnolia, edible kiwi vines, bald cypress, dogwood, climbing hydrangeas, and natural grasses.
A giant central boulder, installed with a crane that swooped over the house, centers the back garden. Visible from the kitchen window, the striking monolith, hand-selected from a local quarry, is a kind of metaphor for a mountain where the headwaters of a stream gather before cascading down. At its base, underground pipes route water to an underground catch basin that overflows into the runnels. In the south corner of the yard, two boulders are surrounded by a moss garden containing five kinds of moss that act as natural sponges and filters, says Antova.
A hidden water feature at the base of one of the boulders is a key instrument in Rain Symphony. Inspired by a Japanese water feature, a clay pot hidden underground becomes an echo chamber as rain drips in. “The idea is that rainwater kind of animates the garden. You have to come and discover where the sound is coming from,” she explains.
Much like a symphony, each rainfall has different sounds and reverberations as it travels through the system, depending upon the storm’s force.
“There are different levels and layers of sound: things are dripping and rushing, you hear the birds and the sound of the rain on the leaves, the wind creates its own symphony, the needles of the cypress dropping onto ice or snow creates sound,” reflects Antova. “The rain invites interaction and instills an appreciation for the power of nature, how plants naturally filter out toxins and clean the environment.”
She notes that the project evolved over time, as did her relationship with her client. “My client had experienced some personal trauma…. [A]s the project progressed, it also became a healing garden,” she recalls. “It is almost ecologically healing and human healing, this journey that was going on at the same time.”
To Antova, the garden is not only a complex, biodiverse environment but also a powerful tool, a friend, and a healer. “It is important,” she notes, “to allow yourself to go outside and spend time…. Life is not always full of fluffy pink clouds. It allows you to think about sadness or grief or whatever the emotion of the moment is and get it off your chest, if you will.”
Somehow, just thinking about Rain Symphony with its energetic mosses, rising runnels, and underground clay pot, is soothing. In the dead of winter, birds hop and sing in the thickets, and fresh fox tracks appear in the snow. Despite these dark times, infinite layers of goodness live in this garden. This suburban oasis welcomes rain, foxes, birds, and humans as equals. If you drive by at just the right time, you may hear Chang and his son “singing in the rain” and, with their flooding problem solved, no one can blame them.
“The drizzling and drumming, the humming and roar of the rain bring the runnels to life.”– Mila Antova
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE: Moody Graham Landscape Architecture
FABRICATION & INSTALLATION: Oldetowne Landscape Architects
CIVIL ENGINEER: GJB Engineering, Inc.
LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE: Hedge Garden Care
© Annapolis Home Magazine
Vol. 17, No. 2 2026