Pollinators play an essential role in Minnesota’s ecosystems. They help plants reproduce; healthy plant populations provide food and habitat to other wildlife and help to clean air and water. Pollinators sustain a healthy, diverse, functioning ecosystem. Without biodiversity, our ecosystem would fail. This is happening today. Increased human activity, pollutants, homogenization of landscapes, and other…
One thing interns are sure to learn about at Metro Blooms is raingardens. This summer we hosted Althea Kuzniewski, an environmental studies major at the University of Minnesota. Althea came to us through the U’s Institute on the Environment, in an internship supported by Ecolab. She had the job of visiting and assessing raingardens we…
Blooming Alleys is a program of Metro Blooms that aims to protect waterways, create habitat, and transform communities by working with blocks of residents to re-imagine what their alleyway looks like… Read More →
Metro Blooms Land and Labor Acknowledgement: We are on the stolen homelands and treaty territory of the Dakota Oyate [oy-yah-tay]. Minnesota, the US Government, and European white colonizers carried out genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced removal of the Dakota to acquire land and wealth. The Ioway [eye-oh-way], Hocąk [ho-chunk], Anishinaabe [Ah-Nee-shin-AH-bay] and other Indigenous Nations…
Metro Blooms started partnering with the City of Lakes Community Land Trust (CLCLT) and the City of Minneapolis in 2023 to provide workshops on sustainable gardening and yard care to CLCLT homeowners. The land trust, a nonprofit based in Northside Minneapolis, helps make home ownership more affordable and provides support to its homeowners to maintain…
Through Blooming Boulevards, we engage residents in communities impacted by environmental injustices to receive pollinator-friendly boulevard rain gardens, taking part in planting and maintenance events. We also partner with local youth/young adult groups on learning and paid work opportunities. We are building ongoing relationships through this program; every year, we learn more about better supporting…
About This garden design showcases the many diverse ways you can bring native plants into just about any landscape. The photos show the site at the start of the process. Have a look at the design below to see the different plants and how they’re used. For a large area, consider a seeded pollinator meadow.…
About The planting at Minnehaha Glen is a part of the larger restoration effort in Minnehaha Park to replace invasive species, like buckthorn, with native plants. When MPRB staff assessed the site, they found several native plant species present despite encroaching species like buckthorn and burdock. The short list of plants in the design complement…
About This garden is part of a larger restoration effort around Keller Lake and the nearby Keller Golf Course to bring native plants back to public spaces. Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District, which has worked in these spaces for years, brought together students from American Indian Magnet, Water Stewards, Master Gardeners, and its own staff to…
About There is a native plant for every space — and the garden at the Holland Lake Trailhead in Lebanon Hills Regional Park is a showcase of just that! In a small footprint, this garden manages to showcase spring-blooming showstoppers, prairie plants for drier areas of full sun, shade-loving plants happy to thrive under a…
About The Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden in Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis features a pollinator meadow. Staff at Eloise Butler created the design and community volunteers, along with the Mississippi River Green Team and Conservation Corps of Minnesota and Iowa, planted the meadow. The matrix style of the meadow includes flowering plants mixed in with…
Creating Native Plant Pollinator Havens Do you want to attract more pollinators in your yard? We’ll show you how, through Turf to Pollinator Gardens. In partnership with Wilderness in the City and others, we planted six native plant pollinator gardens in Twin Cities regional parks. The gardens replaced turf grass lawn, which offers little food…
About The large garden at Battle Creek Regional Park includes a pollinator meadow with two smaller gardens, one at the southeast corner and one on the western edge. Thanks to a partnership with Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District and Saint Paul Public Schools, the meadow was planted by students from L’Etoile Du Nord French Immersion School,…
Edwin, a member of our Design+Build landcare crew, likes discussing plants. Our crew maintains rain gardens, native plantings and other green infrastructure practices in the Twin Cities Metro. When residents stop by with questions about plants, Edwin points out different species, especially potential weeds that may spread quickly. “Just to be able to identify…
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. Vision Engage communities to create resilient landscapes. Values Ecological health; environmental justice; education; inspiration; community engagement; and partnership
Our Blue Thumb Sustainable Landcare Training program trains young adults in environmental justice communities to care for rain gardens, native plantings and other green infrastructure practices. Participants are paid for their time and gain job-ready skills and pathways to green careers. In 2024, we connected some trainees who completed the program to mentors working in…
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…
Through Blooming Boulevards, we engage residents in communities impacted by environmental injustices to receive pollinator-friendly boulevard rain gardens, taking part in planting and maintenance events. We also partner with local youth/young adult groups on learning and paid work opportunities. We are building ongoing relationships through this program; every year, we learn more about better supporting…
We worked with the community at Beam Apartments and Townhomes in North Minneapolis to plan and create a mini-park. Starting in 2022, we met residents at community events — including a neighborhood cleanup and a bingo evening — to learn their priorities for the project. The final design included native plant pollinator gardens, fruit trees,…
Residents of affordable housing communities, many of them long-term community members, may care deeply about where they live but not have the ability to influence decisions that impact their home. We partnered with the Brook Gardens community in Brooklyn Park to center resident priorities. Brook Gardens is a townhome/apartment complex that is home to many…
Metro Blooms provides resources to help people care for land and water. This often includes support to install rain gardens that filter and clean water or native plantings that provide habitat for pollinators. Partnership and relationships are central to how we work. We partner with community groups, nonprofits, local government, business owners and individuals, from…
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…
One morning last May, fifth-graders from the American Indian Magnet School gathered in a circle on a little island near the shore of Keller Lake Regional Park in Maplewood. Teacher Thomas Draskovic, a Lakota/Dakota culture and language specialist, led student drummers in a song acknowledging the four directions, the sky, and Mother Earth. Then it…
