Landcare Services | Metro Blooms

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 can keep the project from soaking in stormwater or offering quality habitat to pollinators, drastically shorten its lifespan, and hurt public perception of these practices.

Metro Blooms works with public and private partners to help address these issues in a number of ways.

Maintenance Services

Metro Blooms maintains, inspects and provides reporting for raingardens, bioswales, stormwater planters, permeable pavers, and underground infiltration chambers.

Metro Blooms maintains, inspects and provides reporting for raingardens, bioswales, stormwater planters, permeable pavers, and underground infiltration chambers. We work closely with local municipalities and watershed districts to make sure that our work meets their requirements. Our crews use sustainable landscape management practices and prioritize non-chemical methods. These include hand-pulling, digging, torching, smothering, solarizing, mowing, and spraying weeds with organic herbicides. Metro Blooms crews use only battery-operated landscape equipment.

Our services include: spring clean-up, pruning, deadheading, weed removal and management, maintenance of pre-treatment structures, debris removal, underdrain assessment and inspection, inspection, documentation and reporting on BMP function.

Metro Blooms emphasizes education and training for our crews. They participate in the same sustainable landcare training explained below.

Sustainable Landcare Training Academy

The Sustainable Landcare Training Academy teaches participants about raingardens, bioswales, stormwater planters and other vegetated stormwater best management practices.

The Sustainable Landcare Training Academy teaches participants about raingardens, bioswales, stormwater planters, and other vegetated stormwater best management practices. Participants are exposed to a wide range of management issues and BMPs on a variety of sites, gaining hands-on experience in the field. Each of the three training modules has a focus on plant identification and sustainable plant management practices, which are used to determine steps to support healthy plant growth without chemical use. Other training topics include stormwater basics, understanding site hydrology, stormwater BMP inspections, the value of native plants, and phenology. Participants who complete the course receive a Sustainable Landcare certificate and a field guide. This training is perfect for those who want to learn more about stormwater management to care for a variety of vegetated BMPs.

Site Series Training Program

The Sustainable Landcare Training Site Series teaches participants how to monitor and manage specific vegetated stormwater best management practices (BMPs) on a single property.

The Sustainable Landcare Training Site Series teaches participants how to monitor and manage specific vegetated stormwater best management practices (BMPs) on a single property. This training program focuses on maintenance inspections and caring for a specific site. Participants receive instruction and hands-on experience in the field. The three training modules cover stormwater basics, site hydrology, stormwater BMP inspections, understanding an operation and maintenance plan, native plant and weed guidance, and a phenology overview. The overall goal is to provide individuals with the information they need to understand their site’s BMP, perform regular inspections, maintain the BMP, and manage its vegetation without chemical use. This training is perfect for facility maintenance staff who are responsible for the care of a specific vegetated BMP.