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Years: 2008, 2007,

Local Clean Water Program Recognized

Blaine — The Blue Thumb–Planting for Clean Water program, which was started by the Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD), will receive the Governor's Award – Minnesota Government Reaching Environmental Achievements Together (MN GREAT!) on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at the Minnesota Air, Water and Waste Environmental Conference.

The Blue Thumb program is an online outreach program with A-to-Z information to help residents plan and plant native gardens, raingardens and shorelines with native plants. The Web site bluethumb.org features planting blueprints, a plant selector tool, local retailers and landscapers, grant information, how-to guides and more.

The 17th annual award honors ...
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Raingarden Guide Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 15, 2008 Contact Elizabeth Storey, 651-644-8888

New Guide to Raingardens available to residents of Capitol Region Watershed District

Have you ever wondered what to plant in that low spot in your backyard where the grass won’t grow because water puddles there after it rains? Or how to fix the erosion gully where rainwater drains away from one of your downspouts? Well one solution may be to plant a raingarden.

A raingarden is a depression designed to catch rainwater runoff in your yard. It is planted with plants that don’t mind getting partially flooded ...
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Blue: It's The New Green

Pioneer Press http://www.twincities.com/life/ci_7934793 Article Last Updated: 01/12/2008 11:35:54 PM CST

Last year, Twin Cities Green ushered in a new era of environmentally conscious lifestyle shopping. This year, the retailer might want to consider a name change.

To Twin Cities Blue.

Advertising agency JWT, known for its trend forecasting, has declared blue the new green and submitted it as one of the top 10 trends of 2008. The deepening color of earth friendliness is being attributed to an increased focus on climate change, which relates directly to the seas and the sky - both blue.

Another sign ...
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Raingarden Guide Poster

Poster TEXT: What do you plant in that backyard low spot where the grass won’t grow?

One solution may be to plant a raingarden.

A raingarden is a depression designed to catch rainwater runoff in your yard. It is planted with plants that don’t mind getting partially flooded on occasion. The raingarden is positioned to prevent stormwater from reaching paved surfaces and contributing to polluted runoff going to our lakes and rivers. Raingardens provide wildlife habitat and winter interest in your yard.

The Blue Thumb Guide to Raingardens is an illustrated how-to manual with details about raingarden ...
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Epa Launches "Green Infrastructure" Plan To Reduce Stormwater Runoff,

EPA Launches "Green Infrastructure" Plan To Reduce Stormwater Runoff, Sewer Overflows

1/17/2008

Washington, D.C. - The EPA, with state and national partners, released a comprehensive plan to reduce runoff and increase environmental and economic benefits for communities. The strategy will help reduce stormwater runoff and sewer overflows by promoting "green infrastructure" approaches, such as green roofs, trees and tree boxes, rain gardens, and porous pavements. Green infrastructure techniques, technologies, and practices reduce the amount of water and pollutants that run off a site. These tools have many other benefits, including cost savings, improved air quality, urban ...
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Consider The Source

Consider the Source Preserving something special from Minnesota’s natural history

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources estimates that only traces – less than one percent – of native plant communities remain in a state that was once abundant with prairie and oak savanna. In the urban landscape, we may try to preserve a piece of natural history when we garden with Minnesota native plants. It’s important, however, to make sure that plants making this claim are truly native to Minnesota.

What is native? Since all plants are native to somewhere, definitions are somewhat arbitrary. But what is usually ...
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Bt Announcement

A Blue Thumb’s Up

This winter while we were all longing for green in the landscape, a group of people who care about clean water were thinking in hues of blue.

Blue Thumb™ is a program originally developed by Dawn Pape of Rice Creek Watershed District as an outreach program to meet water quality goals and to help watershed cities meet federal Clean Water Act mandates. Now, Blue Thumb is a collaborative of professionals from local governmental units (watershed and conservation districts, cities, counties); non-profit and community organizations; the University of Minnesota Extension; and nursery and landscape professionals. ...
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More Lawns Are Going Native

Four geese nibble at Craig Avery's back yard as he stands on a stone patio alongside his gleaming silver grill. And he makes no move to shoo them off. But then, his newly created yard in Minnetonka isn't at all what you would expect. His landscaper seeded it with clover. And the geese help keep it trim. "They are," he said, "just like little lawn mowers."

Avery moved last week into a new species of developments that aims to shrink the vast sea of manicured, watered, mowed and chemical-sprinkled lawns that became an icon of late 20th-century suburbia.

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Going Green With Blue Thumb

Shoreview Press - Press Pubs.com

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 12:38 PM CDT.

BLAINE - It's that time of year again, when folks haul out shovels, bags of dirt and gardening gloves to spruce up their yards for the summer.

Many area residents have a hankering for neatly-groomed plants and lawns that require fertilizer and constant watering. The Rice Creek Watershed District (RCWD) is suggesting an alternative to the type of gardening that contributes to lowered water quality in area lakes and streams.

The Blue Thumb Project was launched last summer to encourage people to do ...
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Teen Soaks Up Rain Gardening Knowledge

TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press

Every spring for 13 years, Meng Xiong has watched storm water form a large puddle alongside his home on St. Paul's East Side. So, when the opportunity came this year to build a rain garden to soak up excess water, the Central High sophomore jumped at the chance.

During a visit last week, I found Meng Xiong and his friend Houa Lor digging the side-yard garden with three Ramsey County Master Gardeners - Betsy McNulty, Linda Neilson and Rochelle Robideau. Meng Xiong says his parents, brothers and a cousin have helped dig, too.

The ...
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Cultivate A “Blue Thumb:” Plant For Water Quality

First a howling blizzard woke us, Then the rain came down to soak us, And now before the eye can focus - Crocus. ~Lilja Rogers

In our sometimes harried lives, the coming of spring can evoke feelings of connectedness with nature that are often lost in our man-made suburban and city landscapes. Buds emerging on trees and shrubs, flowers pushing through the earth toward the sun, and the neighbors we meet anew after winter’s hibernation all remind us that we are part of a larger, natural order. And, as we look forward to a new growing season, spring provides ...
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The Rise Of Southwest’S Blue Thumbs

Southwest Journal, Thursday, May 17, 2007
A primer on building your own rain garden

Backyard puddles and basement flooding used to be the norm when it rained at Kathleen Davies’ Linden Hills home.

“Now I don’t have either,” she said. “And I don’t have to mow.”

These days, wetland plants in Davies’ backyard rain garden drink the water that used to gather in pools on her lawn or drain into her basement. The master gardener for the University of Minnesota Extension Service also planted a rain garden in her front yard to prevent water ...
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Welcome To The New Blue Thumb Website

Welcome to the new Blue Thumb: Planting for Clean Water website. Here you can find information about all aspect of the Blue Thumb program including information on Raingardens, Native Gardens, and Shoreline Stabilization.


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Midwest Home And Garden

The Blue Thumb program was recently featured in the April, 2007 edition of Midwest Home and Garden: http://www.midwesthomemag.com/media/Midwest-Home/April-2007/Tonic-For-Our-Water/


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