News from 2007

Contents

News Archive
Months: April, May, June, July, August, October, November,
All Years

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Shoreline Living In The Land Of 10,000 Lakes

Shoreline Living in the Land of 10,000 Lakes

Here in Minnesota, shoreline living is not limited to the rich and famous. According to the MN DNR, MN has 11,842 lakes and 69,200 miles of natural rivers and streams. We have over 13 million acres of lakes, streams, and wetlands, which is equivalent to one quarter of the area of the entire state. Correspondingly, 200,000-225,000 lucky Minnesota families own lakeshore homes, and countless others live along rivers, streams and wetlands. In Washington County and northern Dakota County, shoreline homes can be found along the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers, circling ...
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Who Says You Can’T Teach An Old Dog New Tricks?

Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

People passing by the Cottage Grove Park and Ride on Wednesday, Oct. 17 probably wondered why that huge group of people was standing in the middle of a parking lot. One woman called her bus to a stop and hopped out to see if we were offering complimentary coffee to all Park and Riders, while another older gentleman asked how much we were charging for the doughnuts. (I offered him one for free.) In retrospect, we must have looked quite odd standing there on a chilly, cloud-filled day, especially ...
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On The Benefits Of Native Plants

On the Benefits of Native Plants

Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Before I learned the difference between native and invasive plant species, for example, I could enjoy a walk in the woods, admiring the leafy green buckthorn along the path, the glorious purple loosestrife in the marsh and the little white and yellow daisy fleabane in the prairie. Now when I take a hike, I have to fight the urge to carry a bottle of RoundUp with me. On the other hand, now that I am also aware of the many benefits of plants native to Minnesota, I am that ...
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How To Throw A (Blue Thumb) Spring Party

How to throw a (Blue Thumb) Spring Party

Around 7pm, neighbors started gathering at Connie Taillon’s house in the Legend’s neighborhood of Stillwater. The margaritas were blended and bowls of chips, dip and other snack foods lined the counter. After sharing the latest news from their end of the block, “You would not believe what the kids were fighting about this time…,” people began to find chairs and sat down to hear about the topic of the night.

So what was I there to sell them? Tupperware? Jewelry? Spa products? Actually, I was there to tell them about ...
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