We work with two Common Bond housing sites: Kingsley Commons in North Minneapolis, and Bii Di Gain Dash Anwebi in South Minneapolis. At Kingsley Commons, we inspect onsite raingardens and work with property management and landscape staff to share maintenance recommendations and provide training. At Bii Di Gain Dash Anwebi, we care for the raingardens… Read More →
The Sustainable Need to Weed “How many of you, if we go out to weed right now, would know what you’re doing?” Anna Bierbauer, our Metro Blooms landscape designer, asks. In a classroom at Folwell School this summer, two Wilderness Inquiry youth raise their hands. Soon after a short lecture about two species of weeds,… Read More →
You’ve got this great new permeable pavement in your driveway. Now what? As with everything we value, some level of maintenance is required in order to keep it looking good and functioning properly. Our teeth, our cars, our relationships and yes, our permeable pavers too. But before we get into how to care for this… Read More →
Landscape and photo by Russ Henry, Giving Tree Gardens We often get questions in the fall regarding raingarden maintenance. One of our Landscape Designers, Andy Novak, recently shared this thoughtful information with one of our Blooming Alley participants, and we thought we’d share it with you all too since it’s very applicable to any area… Read More →
When Metro Blooms is in the field, there’s a good chance that the crew on site are wearing yellow helmets. If so, they are likely a crew from Conservation Corps MN & Iowa, a longtime Metro Blooms partner. This organization has installed more of our raingardens than any other group we work with. In turn,… Read More →
Design Services Our ecologically-centered design services are available to help you create a resilient landscape. We start all of our designs with an onsite consultation with one of our qualified designers to better understand and personalize your design needs. Our staff includes trained landscape designers and landscape architects experienced in creating a design that fits
Our work only begins with the design and installation of raingardens, native plant gardens, and other stormwater best management practices. Time may heal all wounds, but when partnered with neglect, erosion, corrosion, weed infiltration, and random chance it can turn the most thoughtfully-designed, carefully-installed project into what we in the industry call “a mess.” This
Metro Blooms We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that partners with communities to create resilient landscapes and foster clean watersheds, embracing the values of equity and inclusion to solve environmental challenges. Donate Blue Thumb Metro Blooms is proud to coordinate the Blue Thumb program, a partnership promoting ecologically functional landscapes to reduce runoff and improve
More and more, people understand the value of a raingarden as a green solution to preventing runoff that leads to water pollution and downstream flooding. At Metro Blooms, we are delighted to see raingardens becoming more common. Unfortunately, we see many raingardens — including ones that we designed and installed — in need of some… Read More →
On June 18, dozens of community volunteers turned out to help Metro Blooms plant a raingarden at Riverside Plaza, a huge, high-density apartment complex in Minneapolis’ Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. They pulled on gardening gloves and received a short lesson on planting; within two hours, they had put in 477 plants, creating a beautiful green space that… Read More →
Metro Blooms is coordinating a major landscape renovation at an affordable housing complex in Brooklyn Park involving many partners, including residents, the owner, local government, a community organization and the watershed district.
(Caption: The NEON Property Maintenance program invests in human capital. Sheltonn Johnson, manager of program) Sheltonn Johnson now sees plants that he used to walk by every day without ever noticing. He is familiar with different ways of preventing stormwater runoff and has hands-on experience in measuring and excavating a raingarden. These are some benefits… 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 →
If you want to change your lawn, ask yourself what you expect from your new landscape. How different do you want it to look? How much time are you prepared to spend on maintenance? How much foot traffic will it receive? Then think about existing conditions. What kind of soil do you have? How important… Read More →
The way Douglas Owens-Pike sees it, people can spend less time and money on their landscaping, all the while creating more beautiful, resilient yards. They can reduce their grass-cutting and their use of inputs and yet be more confident in their garden’s well-being and ability to withstand the challenges of severe weather events like record-breaking… Read More →
We are a lawn-abiding citizenry. Dutifully we water, fertilize, and mow, and for our efforts we are rewarded with a lush, well-manicured carpet of grass – the thicker and more uniformly green, the better. But how “green” is our grass, really? Consider the following: • The EPA estimates that landscape irrigation nationwide accounts for almost… Read More →
We live in unsettled times, and nowhere is this more evident than outside our own windows. Through them, we see more extreme weather events every year. Leslie Yetka, of the Freshwater Society, has been observing these changes since childhood, when she would sail tinfoil boats down rivers of snow-melt in the street. As an adult, she… Read More →
The end of a year naturally brings about a desire to reflect on what we as an organization have achieved, what’s made us pound our heads on our desks, and what’s inspired our passion to continue the work that we do. What I find myself wondering most is “when will our next batch of Christmas… 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 →
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 →
Hello All, We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the participants of the Bloomington Green Streets for Blue Waters program for taking part in this important project and give everyone else a quick overview of all that’s been accomplished! Over the last two years, Metro Blooms, in partnership with the City of Bloomington and… 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 →
Many Metro Blooms supporters have not heard of Blooming Schoolyards, Metro Blooms’ K-12 outdoor classroom education program. And what a shame that is because I can tell you from experience that it is one of the most enjoyable programs I’ve had the opportunity to participate in as Metro Blooms’ GreenCorps member. Blooming Schoolyards has occurred… Read More →
MPLS WEST BANK– Colleen O’Dell is both a Research Assistant in Practice for Metro Blooms, as well as a Masters Student at both the U of M College of Design and the Humphrey School in Minneapolis. To entwine the worlds of academia and non-profit work, she’s researching the feasibility of an endowment that will fund… Read More →
NEW YORK– This Thanksgiving, I chose to visit the High Line, a world famous park built on top of an abandoned elevated train line above Manhattan’s West Side. The park is still under construction, with two thirds of the line already converted into park and the last third targeted for acquisition by the City of… Read More →
