Over the years we have worked with the Cleveland and Victory neighborhoods, resulting in 64 raingarden installations in these two neighborhoods. The raingardens are included in annual garden tours to educate people about stormwater management and the beauty and other benefits of raingardens.
Our Neighborhood of Raingardens program began in 2009 to support large-scale community participation in the installation of raingardens and to build awareness of raingardens and other actions you can take in your landscape to protect clean water in our environment. Typically, these projects are a cost share between a neighborhood organization and property owners. Participants attend
Mission Metro Blooms partners with communities to create resilient landscapes and foster clean watersheds, embracing the values of equity and inclusion to solve environmental challenges. Vision Engage communities to create resilient landscapes. Equity At Metro Blooms, we work to create the conditions for all of a community’s members to be meaningfully involved in environmental improvement
One of our longest-running programs, Neighborhood of Raingardens, turns 10 this year. Over the past decade, we’ve been installing raingardens in people’s yards, neighborhood by neighborhood, while teaching residents about landscaping practices that can help reduce stormwater runoff, a major cause of water pollution. Our goal is to help people make their property and community… Read More →
(Photo courtesy of the City of St. Louis Park) “I am a raingarden” signs have sprouted like wildflowers in some St. Louis Park neighborhoods this summer. They are located in raingardens installed under a new program intended to make the process easier and less costly for homeowners. The Rainwater Rewards Grant Program, a partnership between… Read More →
As we approach monarch conservation from all angles, we rely on partners who work in different arenas, with different, yet related, expertise. Focusing on restoration of native plants in the urban landscape, the MJV is pleased to welcome Metro Blooms, a Minnesota Twin Cities based metropolitan group working “to promote and celebrate gardening, to… Read More →
As I began thinking about a summary of our year at Metro Blooms, I started thinking about what excites me the most about my job. At Metro Blooms, we couple field work with a big focus on education and community engagement. This past year we were able to work on projects with some really amazing… Read More →
Metro Blooms and Blue Thumb are Merging! The following describes the current understanding of how the Blue Thumb program would be governed and would operate following a merger of the program with Metro Blooms. The Rice Creek Watershed District and Metro Blooms are working toward achieving a final transfer agreement in late May. Separately, a… Read More →
Wow. I know I said last year was busy, but 2014 was so busy we hardly had time to blog about, well, anything. Over the last 12 months we’ve worked with some amazing partners to install 96 raingardens, 6 bisowales, 1 trench drain, and 4 permeable pavement systems. We’ve held 7 corporate volunteer events, educated 430 citizens… Read More →
Bob Wolk joined Metro Blooms’ team of volunteers in 2008. As someone who likes to constantly reinvent himself, he’s taken on many different roles to support Metro Blooms over the years. Like all our volunteers, he started somewhere, and that was by participating in the Minneapolis Garden Awards program in 2007. After receiving a water bill… Read More →
Barb Gasterland is one of our longtime volunteers. She started out as a garden evaluator in 2005, when her interest in a raingarden movement happening at the time led her to Metro Blooms. At this point, Barb had been a resident of Minnesota for almost 25 years. She’d moved from a very small town in… Read More →
For our first Volunteer Spotlight, we have Mark Pedelty, a University of Minnesota professor whose involvement with Metro Blooms stems from some really interesting experiences. You might ask why a communications professor who grew up working in a cattle auction in Northern Iowa, spends his summers in Washington State, and plays in an Americana Rock… Read More →
As 2013 winds to an end, we find ourselves spending a lot of time planning for NEXT year. At Metro Blooms we’re writing work plans for 2014, anxiously awaiting the results of grant applications, and scheduling maintenance and installations for the coming summer. But I thought before the hustle and bustle of a new year… Read More →
Throughout the summer and fall of 2013, Metro Blooms has been working hard with the Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa to install raingardens in five different neighborhoods in Minneapolis. The projects were partnerships with neighborhood associations and community members as part of our Neighborhood of Raingardens program. Some of these partnerships were new this… Read More →
To kick off a new year of staff, board and volunteer biographies (that’s right volunteers, I’m coming for you next) I interviewed Bryan Pynn, Metro Blooms’ director of design and planning services. He wasn’t super keen on the idea of having his life chronicled on our blog at first, but after some time spent reviewing… Read More →
Metro Blooms’ biography for the month of November (I know it’s really December, but only by three days!) is highlighting our executive director, Becky Rice. Becky may be the only other person in the office right now, but she was going to be our biography of the month anyway because she has super interesting stories… Read More →
As mid-May surprises us with it’s vigor and business, so does the Spring weeds! Here’s some tips and pics for starting the year in control of the gardener’s ancient nemesis. Watch for these weeds popping up uninvited in your garden: Dandelions: If you can, trowel up the entire taproot. But at least snip the heads while they’re… Read More →
Here in the office we’ve been analyzing Raingarden Workshop surveys from years gone past, pulling out trends and interesting snippets that can point us to a better awareness of our audience, understanding their needs and interests. Here’s a summary of the strongest findings using Pearson’s Correlations to keep you in the loop… (sparing the extensive… Read More →
All of us here at Metro Blooms are excited for our 2012 projects… we have dozens! 😀There are two however that we’d like to describe more in depth: Urban Homeworks and the Seward Montessori School Magnet. These projects indeed don’t stop at the raingarden themselves. Both promise a high level of initiative and enthusiasm to bring… Read More →
