Turf to Pollinator Gardens

Rusty patched bumblebee with wildflowers

Creating Pollinator Havens With Native Plant Gardens

Do you want to attract more pollinators in your yard? We’ll show you how, through Turf to Pollinator Gardens. Alongside Wilderness in the City and other partners, we planted six native plant pollinator gardens in Twin Cities regional parks.

The gardens replaced turf grass lawn, which offers little food for pollinators. Each garden is unique, demonstrating how native plants can thrive in various site conditions. The native plantings benefit not just pollinators but also birds and other wildlife — and they enhance soil and water quality in the parks.

Educational signs offer information about the plants in each park. We hope the gardens inspire park visitors to take home ideas for using native plants in their own projects!

A Summary…

In 2024, we completed the installation of six new native gardens. The gardens add up to 50,000 square feet of new pollinator habitat. Across 37 planting events, more than 550 amazing volunteers invested their time to help us plant and care for these gardens. They included students, corporate groups, families, friends, and individuals. Thank you!  

We know that dedication to continued maintenance will result in additional invested funds and we are grateful to our partners for continuing to care for these projects alongside community volunteers.

Read a blog post about the project

  • Young volunteers from American Indian Magnet School helping to plant pollinator garden at Keller Lake, Maplewood
  • Spring planting at Keller Lake, Maplewood
  • Ready to plant, Lebanon Hills Regional Park, Eagan
  • Fall planting, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden, Minneapolis

Thank you to our many partners!

  • Battle Creek Regional Park, Ramsey County Parks and Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District. Design and installation by Metro Blooms Design+Build, Urban Roots.
  • Bunker Hills Regional Park, Anoka County Parks. Design and installation by Trio Landscaping and MNL.
  • Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden, Theodore Wirth Park, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB). Design and installation by MPRB, b.e. landscape designs, Mississippi River Green Team.
  • Holland Lake Trailhead, Lebanon Hills Regional Park, Dakota County Parks. Design and installation by Metro Blooms Design+Build.
  • Keller Regional Park, Ramsey County Parks and Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District. Design and installation by b.e. landscape designs. Plant palette in consultation with Wakan Tipi Awanyankapi.
  • Minnehaha Regional Park, MPRB. Design and installation by MPRB and Friends of Minnehaha Park.

This project, in partnership with Wilderness in the City, is funded by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF) as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).  Additional funding is being provided by Lawns to Legumes, St. Paul Audubon Society, and our parks partners. 

We contracted with several Blue Thumb Partners, named above, to help realize the gardens.

Questions about Turf to Pollinator Gardens?

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