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John Kinara Appointed New Chair of Metro Blooms Board
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…
Gardening with City of Lakes Community Land Trust Homeowners
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…
Sustainable Landcare Training: Emerging Green Jobs
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…
Rich Harrison on Landscape Design, People, Pollinators and Joy
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…
38th Street: Plants at Mama Sheila’s House of Soul
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…
Trio Landscaping: Designing Yards for Now and Tomorrow
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…
38th Street: Art, Native Plants and Pollinators
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…
38th Street: More Nature at Hardshell Fitness
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…
All Nations Church: Planting Seeds of Stewardship
Bendu Kollie wants to learn as much as she can about the plants growing in her church’s raingarden. Her church community, All Nations Seventh-Day Adventist Church, planted it in August with the help of Metro Blooms in a landscape renovation to manage stormwater and help pollinators. She hopes it plants seeds of stewardship among the…
Working at Autumn Ridge: Year Three, in a Pandemic
We have adjusted our work to pandemic times, experiencing challenges but also opportunities. Here’s an update on Autumn Ridge Apartments in Brooklyn Park.
Redesigning Outdoor Spaces With Residents at Rental Communities in Brooklyn Park
Major changes are coming to the outdoor spaces at two affordable housing communities in Brooklyn Park. Metro Blooms has been engaging with residents at Brooks Landing and nearby Brook Gardens… Read More →
Raingarden Care: Growing Need for Sustainable Landcare Skills
More and more, people understand the value of a raingarden as a green solution to preventing runoff that leads to water pollution and downstream flooding. At Metro Blooms, we are… Read More →
A Decade of Neighborhood of Raingardens
One of our longest-running programs, Neighborhood of Raingardens, turns 10 this year. Over the past decade, we’ve been installing raingardens in people’s yards, neighborhood by neighborhood, while teaching residents about landscaping practices that can help reduce stormwater runoff, a major cause of water pollution. Our goal is to help people make their property and community…
Conservation Corps MN & Iowa: a Raingarden Partner
When Metro Blooms is in the field, there’s a good chance that the crew on site are wearing yellow helmets. If so, they are likely a crew from Conservation Corps… Read More →
Our Own Crew, and Teaching Sustainable Landcare
Metro Blooms is putting together our first crew! They’ll be among the first “students” in a training program we’ve been developing to teach sustainable landcare. We’re planning to teach the… Read More →
Measuring Runoff on a Permeable City Alley
How well does permeable pavement reduce runoff? Metro Blooms set out to answer this question in a privately-owned alley in Minneapolis’ Standish-Ericsson neighborhood. We compared how much rain flowed down… Read More →
Raingarden Care and Stormwater Credits at MPS
Maintaining raingardens to support clean water, provide habitat and save money
Autumn Ridge and Building Capacity
Metro Blooms is coordinating a major landscape renovation at an affordable housing complex in Brooklyn Park involving many partners, including residents, the owner, local government, a community organization and the watershed district.
Jun Tang Maps Pollinator Sweet Spots
Jun Tang is committed to making the Twin Cities and beyond more habitable for some of our smallest denizens: pollinators. A regional planner for Metro Blooms, Tang has developed a… Read More →
Your Soil Health Really Matters
Please call it soil, not dirt. The rock, clay, minerals and silt that make up dirt are largely devoid of the organic matter and living organisms in the complex ecosystem… Read More →
Metro Blooms and Social Enterprise at NEON
(Caption: The NEON Property Maintenance program invests in human capital. Sheltonn Johnson, manager of program) Sheltonn Johnson now sees plants that he used to walk by every day without ever… Read More →
Metro Blooms, St. Louis Park and the Rainwater Rewards Partnership
(Photo courtesy of the City of St. Louis Park) “I am a raingarden” signs have sprouted like wildflowers in some St. Louis Park neighborhoods this summer. They are located in… Read More →
Lynnhurst Garden Tour: Raingardens, a Native Planting, a Bee Lawn
Three raingardens and a yard with native plantings were featured on a recent tour of a Metro Blooms project in Minneapolis’ Lynnhurst neighborhood. They were part of a program that… Read More →
Jennifer Moeller: Landscape Designer and Artist
Metro Blooms’ design team has become more artistic. When new member Jennifer Moeller is not out in the field working or in the office planning, she just might be drawing… Read More →
A Blooming Alley in St. Paul
Metro Blooms of Minneapolis has taken its work to make alleys greener across the river into St. Paul. Four raingardens, three areas of native plantings and a permeable pavement system… Read More →
Metro Blooms at the One Water Summit
(Caption: Some people bring their best game faces to important events. Community Engagement Manager Kimberly Carpenter brought Metro Blooms’ best flower faces. Photo courtesy of Hennepin County Extension). Metro Blooms… Read More →
Metro Blooms: Seeking Environmental Justice in the Harrison Neighborhood
If Metro Blooms were a vehicle (green energy-powered, of course), the community would be the driver. The destination is always the same: clean water, habitat and a more beautiful environment.… Read More →
Raingarden Maintenance Made Easier: Good Timing and Tools
In a raingarden, there will always be weeding, but you can make it easier on yourself if you have good timing and the right tools. That was one of the… Read More →
Creating Climate Resilient Yards
We live in unsettled times, and nowhere is this more evident than outside our own windows. Through them, we see more extreme weather events every year. Leslie Yetka, of the Freshwater… Read More →