Gardening with City of Lakes Community Land Trust Homeowners

People in a front yard learning about gardening — Learning how to plant, at a Metro Blooms workshop with CLCLT homeowners

Shannon modestly calls herself a “first-grader” when it comes to gardening. But she clearly knows a thing or two. Just ask about her yard, and she’ll tell you about her hostas and rhododendron; the hydrangea near her front porch that exploded in blooms last summer; her royal oak, Ralph; and the most recent addition: a small planting of bee-friendly coneflowers in her front yard.

Shannon planted the coneflowers after attending a Metro Blooms workshop, last August, where she learned about the importance of native species like coneflowers for providing food for pollinators. “After the event, I went and got the coneflowers specifically because they are pollinator attractors,” she said.

It was part of a partnership between Metro Blooms, the City of Lakes Community Land Trust (CLCLT) and the City of Minneapolis to provide workshops on sustainable gardening and yard care. CLCLT is a Minneapolis non-profit that helps people become homeowners. The land trust is in partnership with the homeowner, where CLCLT owns the land and the homeowner owns the buildings and improvements on the land. This makes it easier for buyers, who are eligible based on income, to afford a mortgage. Its portfolio includes some 500 homes in Minneapolis. Many of the homes are in North Minneapolis. Shannon, a CLCLT homeowner, lives in the area, in the Cleveland Neighborhood.

As part of its work, CLCLT also provides homeowners with helpful resources on taking care of their homes, whether it be help finding a plumber or assistance for expensive repairs, or workshops on topics like water intrusion or winterizing a home.

“We’re with homeowners until they decide to sell out of the land trust, providing support,” said CLCLT Stewardship Manager Sheng Vang. She works directly with homeowners and organizes programs that help them with the practical aspects of home ownership.

Vang had known about Metro Blooms’ work for several years. She had talked with us about the possibility of in-person workshops so homeowners could learn more about sustainable yard practices. Like many other things, this was put on hold during the pandemic.

Planting a pollinator garden during a workshop

Then an opportunity presented itself. Early in 2023, our community relations team met Esther, a local artist, while tabling at North Market in Minneapolis. Esther, who happened to be a new CLCLT homeowner, followed up with us for help in her yard. Before you knew it, Vang and Esther were in contact, and Esther had offered her home to host two workshops.

Hosting the workshops helped Esther solve a problem. Her house was “really cute,” but her yard looked, well, bland (her word). She didn’t know that much about gardening. “I never had my own yard,” Esther said. “I was an apartment dweller, so this was a whole new experience for me.”

Hosting the hands-on workshops came with the prospect of a new perennial garden in her front yard. Esther was thrilled. She also appreciated learning some very practical yard care tips, from watering to weeding properly to making sure she didn’t cut her grass too short. She said her lawn started looking a lot better after she put that into practice.

The workshops gave Esther a greater appreciation of the value of native plants in the environment. And by the time Metro Blooms came back for the second workshop, the plants in the garden had grown, giving her home greater curb appeal. “Not only am I giving my house that elevated appeal, with having those native plants, I’m helping the planet, helping the environment,” she said.

The second workshop focused on maintenance. This was the one Shannon went to. She was surprised to find out about all the local resources for gardeners, like free mulch from the City of Minneapolis. “Erin [Erin Bogle, Metro Blooms’ Community Relations Director] and the team were a wealth of knowledge,” she said. “I was like, ‘gosh, if I hadn’t come, I would have missed all of this’.”

“One of my favorite parts about this project was that our young adult Environmental and Social Justice staff facilitated the workshops, teaching us how to plant and care for these gardens!” Bogle said. “We loved meeting and getting to know Esther, Shannon, Mary [another attendee], and the other neighbors who came out.”

A peek into Shannon’s yard

close-up raised veg garden — Shannon has grown cabbage, collard greens and bell peppers

Front yard garden with hostas and other plants — Some of the hostas and other plants out in the front yard

Shannon, who values fellowship, also made some new friends. One attendee taught her how to crochet. Another homeowner, who happened to be a master gardener, invited Shannon to see her garden (“It’s just gorgeous,” Shannon said.) Now there’s talk of a CLCLT gardening club, and plant swapping.

Metro Blooms and CLCLT have applied for funding to continue the partnership. Vang, of CLCLT, sees the work as a stepping stone towards a stronger sense of community.

“I want to build that community within the land trust,” Vang said, one that advocates for affordable housing and for the environment “where we’re assisting each other in living a bigger and healthier life in our community.”

For her part, Esther has enjoyed sitting on her porch and seeing people who walk by admiring her house and yard.

After that first workshop, she also noticed more of her neighbors planting flowers and plants in their yards. That made her happy.

“You know what it does? It shows pride,” Esther said. “It shows that you have pride, the way you live, not just inside your house, but outside.”

— Aleli Balagtas, Metro Blooms Editor

Learn more about our community work here.