Metro Blooms offers grants for rain gardens
Jeff Olsen, KARE 11 News
Link to Video and KARE 11 website
The local gardening group Metro Blooms will provide information and some money for Hennepin County residents willing to dig into a rain garden project.
"We've got Virginia Bluebells over here. This is an iris," Minnehaha Creek Watershed Educator Julie Westerlund said as she pointed out specific plants in a Lori Anderson's Minneapolis yard.
The patch of plants is like a treasure chest for green thumbs.
"They have great root systems," Westerlund said of the native plants surrounding her.
The collection of plants and grasses is called a rain garden, designed to be both easy on the eyes and the environment.
"Rain gardens are important because they help us with our storm water runoff. Storm water is that water that falls on the land, captures pollution and then carries it down to our lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands," Westerlund said.
Water from the roof and sidewalk drains into a depression in the yard, instead of heading into the street and storm drains. In a properly working rain garden the water collects and then quickly seeps into the earth.
"That water really should be soaking into the ground," Westerlund added. "The roots of native plants are longer than the roots of turf grass. So those long, deep roots help water to soak into the ground."
Another benefit comes in the care of the rain garden plants. They're from Minnesota, so they tolerate well our temperature and precipitation swings.
"So we don't need to put as many fertilizers and weed killers on them," Westerlund said.
"We want to give people everything they need to know to install a rain garden," Metro Blooms Executive Director Becky Rice said.
All they need to know and some money to do it. Metro Blooms offers $65 grants to Hennepin County homeowners willing to dig in to a pedaled project like this.
"A rain garden is simple and beautiful action that every property owner can take to help heal and protect the environment," Rice added.
In order to qualify for the grants, Hennepin County residents must first attend one of Metro Blooms rain garden education workshops. The meetings are open to residents from all over the Twin Cities. Information about other reimbursements for people who live outside of Hennepin County is available at the workshops.
Posted: June 3, 2008