Blue Thumb Workshops
Through our Blue Thumb Education programming, we provide DIYers with the information to make their outdoor spaces more beautiful and sustainable. In 2005, we started our first workshops for home… Read More →
Through our Blue Thumb Education programming, we provide DIYers with the information to make their outdoor spaces more beautiful and sustainable. In 2005, we started our first workshops for home… Read More →
A nonexistent raingarden is how Rich Harrison connected with Metro Blooms. He was the caretaker of the apartment building where he lived, and the yard there was a mess: a couple of trees had been taken down, stormwater was collecting, and nothing was growing. Harrison decided to put in a raingarden. He knew of Metro…
From restoring native plant communities in a floodplain to managing vegetation at a solar farm to deploying goat herds for buckthorn removal, Minnesota Native Landscapes Corp. (MNL) takes on many large-scale projects as part of its mission to “Heal the Earth.” But this Otsego, MN-based ecological restoration business also supports individuals to take action in…
Inviting a community’s residents to be part of redesigning their landscape helps to create outdoor space more responsive to their needs and increases the likelihood of their stewardship of the space. Currently Metro Blooms is on this journey with tenants at Brook Gardens, a rental community in Brooklyn Park where we recently finished our first…
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… Read More →
Since 2018, Metro Blooms and Riverside Plaza, a rental community in Minneapolis, have collaborated to redesign outdoor spaces for greater environmental resilience and better quality of outdoor living. We’ve engaged with residents at community meetings, workshops, social events and community-planting events, working with the Riverside Plaza Tenant Association (RPTA) and owner Sherman Associates. Resident input…
Metro Blooms has been working with the Riverside Plaza community since 2018 to redesign outdoor spaces for greater environmental resilience and better quality of outdoor living. Through our partnership, we created beautiful community green spaces that manage stormwater sustainably and provide habitat for pollinators. We worked with the Riverside Plaza Tenant Association (RPTA) and owner…
When Hawo Abdi saw a flier about a tree-planting event in the elevator at her apartment building, she immediately took a picture and sent it around to other friends with children urging them to attend. The event would teach youth about how to plant trees, take better care of the earth, and give their time…
We invite you to sponsor our work, supporting people, water, and pollinators.
Our 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. Learn more. Donate
Major changes are coming to the outdoor spaces at two affordable housing communities in Brooklyn Park. Metro Blooms has been engaging with residents at Brooks Landing and nearby Brook Gardens… Read More →
Blue Thumb – Planting for Clean Water is a partnership of local government, landscape contractors, native plant nurseries and other entities committed to the promotion of native plantings, rain gardens, and shoreline plantings. Blue Thumb is managed by Metro Blooms and provides our education programs, including the ones listed below. Learn more about Blue Thumb…
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… Read More →
What a Twentysomething Renter Learned I have recently experienced the effects of poorly managed stormwater: water dripped from the roof and into the spaces between my apartment walls, paint… 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… 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… 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… Read More →
As the end of 2012 approaches Metro Blooms is looking back on some of the big moments we had this year. As always we started the year out with a… Read More →