25 rain gardens, 15 trees, one year. This is what Manny Vazquez, Environmental and Social Justice Manager at Metro Blooms,would make happen with homeowners from the City of Lakes Community Land Trust (CLCLT)—the first time Manny would be leading a project on his own. Since last fall, Manny has been coordinating consultations with CLCLT homeowners,…
When Metro Blooms Environmental & Social Justice Manager Manny Vazquez called out, “Who wants to help me plant the tree?” two students immediately shouted “Me!” and ran over without hesitation. That moment captured the spirit of the afternoon at Face to Face Academy: students taking ownership, working side-by-side withvolunteers, and helping shape a space they…
“Low maintenance” is one of the most common requests our Metro Blooms Design+Build team hears. Many of us want a landscape that is friendlier for the environment while being easier to care for—but what that looks like can vary widely. Does it mean no mowing? Less weeding? Fewer seasonal chores? When it comes to landscaping…
Metro Blooms is working with residents in and near North Minneapolis to replace condemned ash trees and plant new ones that will strengthen the future canopy. These projects are about more than trees—they’re about community, care, and resilience. Metro Blooms is well-known for rain gardens and native plantings for pollinators, but trees are just as…
In the Seward neighborhood in Minneapolis, a cluster of boulevard rain gardens is doing more than soaking up stormwater. They are a living experiment in plant research, a training ground for young landcare workers, and even a canvas for student art. Since last fall, Metro Blooms has been working under contract with the City of…
Jaden Scott says the best restaurants and bakeries are the ones with items you can’t find anywhere else. Like East African sweet potato donut holes. Or gluten-free lemon zucchini muffins. These are just two of the goodies offered by Green Garden Bakery, a youth-run business known for its vegetable-based desserts where Jaden, 19, is the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Metro Blooms is pleased to announce that John Kinara has been appointed Chair of the Board of Directors of Metro Blooms. Kinara, formerly Vice-Chair, takes on the leadership role from Carol Kuechler, who will continue to serve as a Board member. “This is a very proud moment for me, stepping into the…
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…
Drive along Brooklyn Boulevard in Brooklyn Park, and you’ll pass a typical sprawling parking lot for a shopping center. But look a little closer, and you’ll see something different about the green strip bordering the road. Amidst the typical turfgrass, cheerful clumps of native grasses and flowers beckon visitors, plantings arranged in gently curving beds…
A job inspecting rain gardens was not exactly on Edwin’s radar when he decided to join Metro Blooms’ Sustainable Landcare Training program. The North Minneapolis resident had done some gardening in middle school and learned about plants in recent volunteer work. What he didn’t know was the potential for this interest to turn into well-paid…
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…
During the six years that Becca Cerra has had a studio at Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center (CAFAC), she never noticed the Goodridge Building, one of CAFAC’s neighbors at George Floyd Square. With a non-descript brick front, it looked like just another quiet office space among a string of local businesses that make up the…
Earlier in the fall, passers-by might have noticed some bright-red planters, with late-season blooms spilling out, at the entrance to Mama Sheila’s House of Soul in Minneapolis. They matched perfectly with the outdoor tables and pergola. It was almost as if it had been planned that way all along. But it was something new. In…
This past summer, we teamed up with neighborhoods, cities, and the Conservation Corps of Minnesota & Iowa (CCM) to install raingardens in residents’ yards and teach them about sustainable landscaping practices along the way. These efforts were part of our Neighborhood of Raingardens program, which aims to make clean-water planting projects easier and more affordable…
“Leaving the leaves” is how we can help pollinators get ready for cold weather. Last autumn, Jessica Miller took some of her neighbors’ raked-up leaves and spread them out in her yard. She put layers in her garden beds and small piles around her trees and shrubs. In a society that prizes the pristine lawn…
How do you live in your outdoor space? Do kids play in the yard? Do you like to gather with friends? Are you a gardener? How will all of this change over time? Diana Grundeen of Trio Landscaping asks a lot of questions the first time she meets a potential client. She’s gathering the information…
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…
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…
Introducing our new logo! It features a black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia) in keeping with our work to promote native planting. And the stem and leaf are like little water droplets — reminding us of the importance of earth-friendly actions we can take to protect our water. Our previous logo served us well for more than 15…
The Metro Blooms Board of Directors is proud to announce the appointment of Laura Scholl as Metro Blooms President and Executive Director. Scholl takes this position after 10 years with the organization, most recently as Associate Director and Director of Development. Scholl joined Metro Blooms as a GreenCorps member in 2012. She has been a…
Rebecca Rice, the Metro Blooms President and Executive Director, has decided to step back to direct the organization’s Blue Thumb program effective May 9, 2022. Laura Scholl, formerly Associate Director and Director of Fund Development, assumes the role of President and Executive Director. “It is an exciting time at Metro Blooms as our organization…
Climate change, the long-term change in the Earth’s temperature, is bringing massive and detrimental consequences. What are these consequences and how do they affect us? Have you noticed the increasingly extreme weather? Like heat waves or flooding rains? The vast majority of scientists agree that human activity is the primary cause of climate change, so…
A pollinator garden on 38th Street and Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis, steps from our office, is a garden for all seasons. At the height of the summer, there are blooming coneflowers and black-eyed Susans. Right now the garden is blanketed in white, the coneflowers covered with snow hats. It’s the perfect backdrop for viewing the…
The more nature, the better, for Ben Swarts. A couple of years ago, when he moved his business, Hardshell Fitness, into a former gas station on 38th Street at Longfellow, Swarts “threw” some seeds down behind the building. Today that space is a beautiful wildflower garden. Now he looks at the gray expanse of paved…
