Blue Thumb - Planting for Clean Water™ is a collaborative program originally developed by Rice Creek Watershed District. Blue Thumb partners are a group of professionals from local governmental units (watershed and conservation districts, cities, counties), non-profit and community organizations, and nursery and landscape professionals.

The Blue Thumb program aims to encourage homeowners to use native plant gardening, raingardens, and shoreline stabilization to reduce runoff from their home landscape in an effort improve water quality. Since we all want clean water, Blue Thumb helps partners present a unified public education message and provide step-by-step help for clean water planting projects.

Visit the Blue Thumb website for tons of great information!

Native Gardens
Raingardens
Shoreline Stabilization

The December 8, 2009 in-field, hands-on workshop held at 3:00PM-4:00PM in Excelsior Commons Park, Excelsior, MN will cover:

• Benefits of the bioengineering approach to shoreline stabilization
• Site preparation techniques for shorelines
• Live stake installation
• Riprap installation
• Maintenance issues and techniques

The December 8, 2009 workshop is the third in a series of classroom and field workshops about shoreline stabilization. It is offered in partnership with the Blue Thumb - Planting for Clean Water - program. The workshops are part of Minnehaha Creek Watershed District's Lake Minnetonka Shoreline Stabilization Project. MCWD is working on four demonstration shoreline stabilization projects using Bioengineering practices.

For more information contact Julie Westerlund at 952-471-0590 x209.

Sign up for a Raingarden Workshop!

View the Metro Blooms Raingarden Video!

*Scroll d own to see the schedule.

Raingarden Installation Demonstration:

This 3-hour, Installation Demonstration will include an overview of raingardens and raingarden design, the sizing and siting of the raingarden, infiltration and soil testing, soil preparation, installation and maintenance. Then Metro Blooms Landscape Design Assistants will create and install a raingarden step-by-step.

Raingarden Workshops (Part A):

The Raingarden Workshop (Part A) teaches landowners how to install a raingarden using native plants that don’t require fertilizers or pesticides, and whose long roots help draw the water deep into the soil.

Raingarden Workshops (Part B):

After attending Part A, it is recommend that you follow up with the Raingarden Design Workshop (Part B) in which you will receive professional advice from Metro Blooms Landscape Design Assistants and Hennepin County Master Gardeners who are trained in landscape design and horticulture.

2009 Schedule - Part A

2009 Schedule - Part B