We are planting “seeds” for future pollinator gardens within our communities.
Working with the nonprofit Wilderness in the City, we’re installing six pollinator-friendly demonstration gardens in parks across the Twin Cities. We hope to inspire park visitors to take home ideas for incorporating native plants into their outdoor spaces.
Each garden features all Minnesota-native plants and highlights how to use them in a variety of site conditions. Signs will provide information about the chosen plants and direct visitors to online resources to help them create their own native plant garden. The goal is to transform an underutilized expanse of turf grass into pollinator habitat, adding to a network of high-quality habitat across the Twin Cities Metro. Reintroducing native plants here will not only benefit pollinators, birds, and other wildlife, but also have positive, long-lasting effects on soil and water quality within the parks.
Thanks to help from our communities, we are halfway there! In 2023, we planted gardens at Battle Creek Regional Park, Lebanon Hills Regional Park, and the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden at Theodore Wirth Regional Park — totaling 15,600 native plants on 19,120 square feet of turf grass. Shout out to the Blue Thumb Partners who we contracted with to prepare the sites. And a huge thank-you to over 200 amazing volunteers who helped us plant and maintain the gardens. They included students, corporate groups, families, friends, and individuals invested in their local parks. We accomplished so much together!
- Anoka County Parks – Bunker Hills Regional Park, design and installation by Trio Landscaping and MNL.
- Dakota County Parks – Holland Lake Trailhead at Lebanon Hills Regional Park, design and installation by Metro Blooms Design+Build
- Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board – Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden at Theodore Wirth Park, design and installation by MPRB, Metro Blooms Design+Build, Mississippi River Green Team
- Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board – Minnehaha Regional Park
- Ramsey County Parks and Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District – Battle Creek Regional Park, design and installation by Metro Blooms Design+Build, Urban Roots
- Ramsey County Parks and Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District – Keller Regional Park, design and installation by b.e. landscape designs
This project 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.
