Kettering sits on a broad rise above the Great Miami River valley, and at roughly 1,007 feet the city drains toward Holes Creek and the wetlands of Hills and Dales MetroPark rather than holding water in place. The dominant silt loam here is fertile and easy to work, but it compacts hard under mower traffic and crusts over after the heavy spring storms that push annual rainfall to about 41 inches. Postwar neighborhoods around Fraze Pavilion and Lincoln Park are full of mature pin oaks and maples whose surface roots need generous mulch rings, while newer builds toward Centerville, Oakwood, and Moraine often need topsoil to correct thin, scraped grading. Limestone gravel handles the freeze thaw cycling of Zone 6b better than smaller decorative aggregate on Kettering driveways and swales.