Star Tribune
A follow-up on Bob and Debby Wolks’ Raingarden Anniversary Project (Southwest Journal): Sifting through the struggle of raingarden maintenance
News
Metro Blooms On WCCO
Metro Blooms with Sentyrz Supermarket on WCCO 4 News, 4/18/2012 N. MPLS–Lead Landscape Designer Michael Keenan recently spoke for Metro Blooms on WCCO News. Michael highlighted the Sentyrz Supermarket raingarden and explained the fundamentals of raingardens and how they help the Mississippi River. Happy Earth Week!
Early Spring Strategies For Your Raingarden
Ever get that pre-Mother’s Day planting itch? Early Spring is a great time to sneak a bit of color into your garden before the bulk of the plants start blooming! By planting early blooming bulbs, perennials, or trees around the perimeters of the raingarden, you’ll extend it’s color life up to a month! Bulbs: Plant in the… Read More →
Earth Day 2012: Teaming Up With Project For Pride And Living
N. MPLS– This Earth Day, Metro Blooms is teaming up with Project for Pride in Living (PPL) to build a raingarden. Not just any raingarden mind you, but a raingarden rich in community initiative. The Earth Day project will complete PPL’s renovation of an affordable apartment building at 2521 Girard Ave N. The housing building… Read More →
WCCO 4 News
Metro Blooms’ Lead Landscape Designer delivers raingarden wisdom during a WCCO interview at Sentyrz Supermarket in NE Mpls (aired on 4/18/2012)
And The Survey Says…
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 →
Spotlight Projects: Spring 2012
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 →
Fox Sedge
Family: Cyperaceae (Sedge) Family Scientific Name: Carex vulpinoidea Native cool-season perennial sedge that grows up to 3 ft high. Grows in wet, moist meadows, marshes, lake shores, stream sides, and road sides. Watch for: Dense clumps of sedges with a brown seed head that resembles a fox’s tail. Blooms May to July. Leaves are generally… Read More →
Asters: Purple Dome/ New England
Family: Asteraceae Scientific Name: Aster novae-angliae As a prime example of a native plant which is highly cultivated, this entry will look at both. New England Aster is a very common and native perennial herb which favors upland moist to saturated conditions. Purple Dome Aster is a close cultivar of it’s New England predecessor, but… Read More →
Boneset
Family: Asteracea (Sunflower) Scientific name: Eupatorium perfoliatum Native perennial wildflower from 2-4 ft tall. Prefers low, moist to wet soils with plenty of organic material, with full to partial sun. Watch for: The stem is covered with white hairs and forms branches at the top. Leaves are opposite along the stem and tend to grow… Read More →
Purple Coneflower
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower) Scientific Name: Echinacea angustifolia Perennial herb up to 2 ft tall, established predominately on the great plains, in dry upland prairies, often in rocky soil. Watch for: Long, alternate leaves and a large cone-shaped flower with ray petals. Center crowns of flower large and circular, similar to Black-eyed Susans. Other names: Comb Flower, Snakeroot, Kansas Snakeroot, Scurvy… Read More →
Sneezeweed
Family: Asteraceae (Aster) Scientific Name: Helenium autumnale Native perennial herb that grows on low-lying, moist prairies and other open spaces throughout the United States and Canada. Watch for: Alternate, lance-shaped to elliptic leaves. Flower clusters at the ends of branches have yellow, wedge-shaped petals with three “teeth” on the ends. Other names: Common Sneezeweed, Large-flowered… Read More →
Metro Blooms Staff Featured At U Of M College Of Design And Humphrey School
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 →
The High Line: A Harmony Of Plants, Materials, And Space
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 →
Yarrow
Family: Asteraceae (Aster) Scientific Name: Achillea millefolium Perennial herb introduced with genotypes that are both native and introduced. Common in disturbed areas and open forests in the US, spread across all Northern continents. Watch for: Lance-shaped leaves finely divided, resembling a fern. White flowers have four petals, forming a dome shape in a cluster at… Read More →
Butterfly Milkweed
Family: Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed) Scientific Name: Asclepias tuberosa Perennial herb found on roadways, abandoned farmlands, open woodlands, and prairies. Sandy, loamy, or rocky limestone soils. Watch for: Lance-shaped alternate leaves smooth above and velvet beneath. Flowers are a showy orange, with 5 petals which together form a rounded group on the top. Usually the flash of… Read More →
Blazing Star
Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower) Scientific Name: Liatris punctata Perennial herb of prairies and native pastures. Dry, course soils. Watch for: Purple star-shaped flowers arranged in spikelike groups at the ends of stems. Leaves dotted and narrow, up to 15 cm long, closely spaced and arching upward, with a solid smooth feel. 1/4′ to 2 3/4′ tall. Other names:… Read More →
Give To The Max Day 11/16/11
Yesterday was the long awaited Give to the Max Day, and oh what a memorable day it was! The entire 24-hour donation window raised about $13.5 million for hundreds of Minnesota non-profits… now you don’t see that everyday do you?! Wow! All donations will be dedicated to education, health, disability services, immigration and refugee aid, family services, wildlife… Read More →
Powderhorn Leaf Raking 2011
When it comes to late fall in Minnesota we’re all lucky to get a perfect warm sunny day that lands on the weekend! Last Saturday (11/12), Metro Blooms and local volunteers embraced this fortunate day with a raking project near Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis. Starting at 9 am with a crew of 12, we took… Read More →
Big Blue Stem
Family: Poacaea (Grass) Scientific Name: Andropogon Gerardii Prairies (clay, black soil, sand), savannas, grassy fens (wetlands), well-managed native pastures, roadsides. The most common grass of the native tall grass prairie. Pre-colonial settlement, Big Blue Stem once covered a massive range from Maine to the Rocky Mountains, from Quebec to Mexico. Watch for: Long, hairy and… Read More →
Beebalm
Family: Lamiaceae (Mint) Family Scientific name: Monarda fistulosa Grows on prairie hillsides, pastures, roadsides, stream banks, and occasionally in open woods. Usually in rocky soil. Perennial herb. Watch for: Purple flower, leaves simple, opposite and lance-shaped. Fragrant, lower surfaces hairy, with square stem. Other names: Wild Bergamont, Oswego Tea (Lake Oswego, Oregon), Long-flowered Horsemint, Fern Mint. History: Beebalm… Read More →
Blooms Goes Blog!
Welcome to the new Metro Blooms blog! Here is where you’ll be able to dig into all the rain garden extras such as: News, events, affiliates, plant bios and folklore, and much more! We look forward to being blog buddies, feel free to join in the conversation! -Nick for Metro Blooms Staff
The Floral is Political
Minnehaha Creek Watershed District
Metro Blooms Receives MCWD 2010 WATERSHED HEROES AWARD
Twin Cities Daily Planet
For Minneapolis gardener, the floral is political – Aug 24, 2010
2010 Watershed Heroes Award
StarTribune – Golden opportunity
A Minneapolis couple celebrate their 50th anniversary with a unique gift to the neighborhood – rain gardens for everyone on their block.
Southwest Journal
Loving Each Other and the Environment: Bob and Deb Wolk celebrate their anniversary with raingardens for the whole block