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Raingarden Installation Video Watch it now!
Rain barrel installation video Watch it now!
 
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Our ProjectsOver the past few years, the scope and scale of work that Metro Blooms has accomplished has grown immensely. We have performed numerous raingarden installations under our Neighborhood of Raingardens program. We serve school districts and the business community in helping them to realize better water quality goals. We also work with cities, counties, watershed districts, and conservation districts in creating valuable public spaces that will add benefit to local communities and provide habitat for numerous species. See below for a sample of our work.
Audubon Park Neighborhood of Raingardens Audubon Park Neighborhood of Raingardens
In 2011, Metro Blooms worked with the Audubon Neighborhood Association to educate Audubon homeowners about the benefits and beauty of rain gardens. Audubon homeowners and property owners were eligible to participate in a neighborhood rain garden program to manage stormwater runoff in the Mississippi River watershed. Of the 30 onsite consultations we performed, homeowners from the top 13 properties were selected to receive a free rain garden, including significant help with construction and installation. Click here for more information Bloomington Green Streets for Blue Waters
Green Streets for Blue Waters is a collaborative effort to install curb-cut raingardens and other stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) within the public Right-of-Way and private land in the City of Bloomington. These practices will reduce sediment, phosphorus, and stormwater volumes generated by the residential area adjacent to the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge (MVNWR), a critical habitat area in the heart of the Twin Cities. This project intends to disconnect 22 acres of of drainage area from the conventional storm sewer system. This disconnection will result in an annual reduction of 14lbs of phosphorus and 1.54 tons of total suspended solids from entering the Minnesota River Valley. Find out more at http://www.metroblooms.org/bloomington Bryant Neighborhood of Raingardens and 40th Street Bikeway Metro Blooms Landscape Designer, Sam Geer and Bryant Neighborhood's Erin Schwartzbauer at the 40th Street plantings.
Powderhorn Lake Neighborhood of Raingardens volunteers installing raingardens near Powderhorn Lake, August 2010
During the summer of 2010, Metro Blooms worked with residents of the Powderhorn Park and Central Neighborhoods of South Minneapolis to install 100 raingardens over five weeks as part of our Powderhorn Lake Neighborhood of Raingardens project. The project area is a set of properties that drain into one storm sewer pipe that drains into Powderhorn Lake. We are working with the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board to monitor the quality and quantity of stormwater in that pipe, and to compare data with a pipe in a control area nearby. Over three years we will monitor the impact of these 100 raingardens. The bulk of the project is funded by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund, and project partners include the City of Minneapolis, Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board, Minnehaha Creek Watershed District and the Minnesota Conservation Corps. Filmmaker Mark Pedelty is making a three-part documentary of the project. Part One documents the panning phase and premiered on Twin Cities Public Television in April of 2010. Part 2 will document the installation phase and should come out in early 2011. Part three will follow the project over time. The project is far from over. In 2011 we will continue to work in the project area to teach residents about raingarden maintenance and helping these raingardeners to make the most of the project.
Sentyrz Liquor and Grocery Metro Blooms board member Lori Anderson and Walt Sentyrz, owner of Sentyrz Liquor and grocery on an early-October volunteer installation event.
With a grant from the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization, Metro Blooms worked with Sentyrz Liquor and Grocery to install raingardens to capture 100 percent of the rain water that lands on this site. That means – in a one-inch rainfall – nearly 14,000 gallons of stormwater that used to pollute the Mississippi River are now directed into raingardens. Linden Hills Neighborhood of Raingardens Pamela Jewson with her husband (left) and Metro Blooms designer Sam Geer (right), as they begin installation of Pamela's garden on one of the last beautiful days in October of 2010
In June of 2010, Pamela Jewson became our 5000th raingarden workshop attendee. To celebrate this milestone, Metro Blooms – along with the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District and EcoScapes Landscaping - gave Pamela a free raingarden installation. In 2011, the Linden Hills Environment Committee is offering the first 50 property owners 50% off on an onsite consult and raingarden design. Of these property owners, 30 will be eligible for a free raingarden excavation and $75 native plant reimbursement grants in 2012.
- Sign up now by scheduling a consultation. Call Deb at 651-698-1390. See a slideshow from the installation on our Facebook page Bob & Debbie Wolk's 50th Anniversary Image from Southwest Journal
Bob and Debbie Wolk live on the 5100 block of James Avenue South in Minneapolis – a block that slopes downhill to Minnehaha Creek. When it rains, a torrent of water runs down the street. Untreated, this water is the biggest environmental threat to the creek, adding pollution, causing algae blooms, and increasing bank erosion. Years ago, Bob and Debbie installed a rain garden to do their part to hold back this polluted water from the creek. After all, Debbie is a Hennepin County Master Gardener, and Bob is a Metro Blooms board member. They are very familiar with the value of raingardens in protecting our lakes and streams. Then, in 2009, Bob and Debbie took the next step – and it was a big one. To celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, Bob and Debbie offered to install raingardens for any neighbors on the block who would have one. Eleven neighbors took them up on the offer, and one Sunday late in May, 150 anniversary well-wishers and raingarden enthusiasts showed up to help install native plants in these eleven raingardens. Since then, Bob and Debbie have worked with their grandkids to write and deliver raingarden newsletters to their neighbors, and have worked to help neighbors maintain their new raingardens. Thanks to Bob and Debbie, their block is more beautiful, neighbors are more connected with one another, and Minnehaha Creek takes in less untreated stormwater.
Victory Cleveland Neighborhood of Raingardens
When Debbie Nelson from the Victory and Cleveland Neighborhood Associations in North Minneapolis heard about Metro Blooms Powderhorn Lake Project, she approached Metro Blooms to do a smaller-scale version in her two neighborhoods. Funded by the City of Minneapolis and the Victory and Cleveland Neighborhood Associations, this project installed 30 raingardens in various locations throughout the two neighborhoods. To receive a free raingarden, residents had to initially sign up and attend the Raingarden Workshop held at Lucy Craft Laney School in Minneapolis. The first 30 residents who attended were offered a free raingarden. The installation occurred in three phases. First, raingarden onsite consultations and designs were done by Metro Blooms LandscapeDesigners at all locations. Second, upon completion of the designs, Metro Blooms Landscape Designers and staff from the Minnesota Conservation Corps (MCC) excavated and prepared the raingardens for planting. Third, homeowners were responsible for purchasing discounted native plants and cultivars and planting them in their own raingardens based on the design layout. See a slideshow on our Facebook page Schmidt Lake Neighborhood of Raingardens
In 2010 residents of northern neighborhoods surrounding Schmidt Lake learned how the stormwater runoff from their properties is contributing to mid-summer algae blooms in Schmidt Lake. Seven residents partnered with Metro Blooms, the City of Plymouth, Conservation Corps of Minnesota, and Hennepin County to install raingardens and shoreline buffers. In 2011 residents in all neighborhoods around the lake will again have the opportunity to receive assistance in protecting the waters of Schmidt Lake.
Irving Triangle Park
The planting plan was designed with
Bryn Mawr Neighborhood of Raingardens
City of Shorewood Stormwater Improvements
CURBS Program
Holland Neighborhood of Raingardens
This project is part of a larger 'Green Campus' project that is centered around Edision High School. The 'Green Campus' will implement stormwater infiltration practices as the connective thread between the building campus and the larger landscape to which they are adjacent to (Jackson Square Park and a nearby flood control basin). In combining the Green Campus initiative with the greater Holland Neighborhood raingarden installations, the neighbors have a larger vested interest in seeing the project succeed as a whole as well as help to create a connective thread (in the form of green infrastructure) between the larger neighborhood and the campus itself. |
In 2011, Metro Blooms formed a partnership with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, the Pohlad Foundation, the Jordan Area Community Coalition, and the Mississippi River Green Team. Here we converted a small triangle of Park Board property in North Minneapolis into a planted public space that is still usable for recreation, but also increases space for bird habitat and serves as a usable outdoor education tool for the local community.
three goals in mind: 1) it should be able to withstand the intense snow-plowing regime around the edges of the park 2) provide plants that are staples to a bird's foraging needs throughout the year 3) create a design of purely native species that both lend themselves to a neat and composed design as well as withstand the pressures of foot traffic and nearb recreation.
In 2010, Metro Blooms formed a partnership with the Bryn Mawr Neighborhood Association, The Bassett Creek Watershed District, and the City of Minneapolis to design and install cost-shared raingardens for residents, churches, businesses, and townhome associaitons of the Bryn Mawr neighborhood. Metro Blooms installed 18 of the 30 gardens, while some homeowners chose to install the gardens themselves (and still take part in the cost-share). We will be finishing the installations in early 2012.
Throughout the past few years, Metro Blooms and the Ciy of Shorewood have worked together on several projects that are helping to improve the quality of runoff flowing into the Minnehaha Creek Watershed, including Lakes Minnetonka and Virginia. One project is between two properties on the north shore of Lake Virginia. It is a 225' long swale that was severly channelized and offered no pre-treatment of pollutants before they entered the lake. Metro Blooms and the MN Conservation Corps widened out the swale, created a series of pools to capture sediment and slow the speed of flow, and revegetated the entire flow path with a mix of natives and cultivars. Other projects include a raingarden on Smithtown Road that is part of the municipal ditch system, a raingarden at Freeman Park, and a new project in 2012 that will eliminate turf areas around a stormwater pond and replace them with a mix of shrubs and plants to limit erosion, minimize mowing maintenance, and increase the aesthetic value.
CURBS (Corridors for Urban Revegetation and Business Sustainability) works with property owners to revegetate commercial corridors as focal points of neighborhood life. These landscape improvements can enhance commercial viability, prevent pollution, and improve livability. Funded by a grant from the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization, Metro Blooms began working with the West Broadway Business and Area Coalition in 2011 to pilot the program in North Minneapolis. Minneapolis property owners pay utility fees for runoff gernerated by large parking lots, but grants and government programs can help them treat stormwaterand enhance the aesthetics of their corridor. The program helps owners define expected costs, calculate stormwater volumes, and generate conceptual designs to help them visualize and promote the project. Metro Blooms is currently developing projects with Cub Foods, Urban Homeworks, Juxtaposition Arts, Shiloh Temple, and several others. Metro Blooms utilizes foundation support to provideaffordable housing and planning services to help them to address concerns such as zoning review, construction documentation, and contracting to help them implement projects that can help revitalize a distressed commercial corridor, provide environmental benefits, make them eligible for a sizable utility credit and are a good ,ong term investment.
Metro Blooms and the Holland Neighborhood Improvement Association have developed and installation program that subsidizes the cost of onsite consultations, designs, materials, and provides traingin and colunteer coordination to help 10 property owners build raingardens in the fall of 2011. The program connected residents with each other for support during the construction andmaintenance stages. Working with Metro Blooms designers, University of Minnesota students, and the MN Conservation Corps, the homeowners put forward their own time, money and effort to make this project a success. The project will be expanded in 2012, with the potential for up to 30 homeowners to particiapte in the program, and a collaborative effort between Metr BLooms and the students of Edison High School to plant and maintain gardens on the campus.