As the end of 2012 approaches Metro Blooms is looking back on some of the big moments we had this year. As always we started the year out with a series of 
raingarden workshops throughout the metro area and Blooms Day, an educational event combined with a plant sale and garden awards. Our Blooming Schoolyards program really took off this year as over 220 elementary students were educated on landforms, water infiltration and raingarden site selection and design. Some students even got to plant their own garden!
This summer you supported our garden party at Gleason Lake and this past fall Metro Blooms hosted our first stand-alone Garden Awards event at the 
Colombia Manor in Minneapolis which was attended by over 200 Metro Blooms supporters. Finally, in December, we all got to celebrate the year at the Rock for Raingardens fundraiser at the Fine Line Cafe. Read more
Fall is a great time to start a compost pile in your own backyard because there is a plethora of brown material (a.k.a. leaves). It’s important that you do something with your leaves because if you simply leave them they often accumulate in storm drains and wash right into your local water body, bringing with them a lot of extra nutrients that can be harmful to aquatic ecosystems. So, how do you go about starting a compost pile with all of those leaves? 