Create a Raingarden
Do you worry that pollutants from fertilizers, pesticides, streets, and rooftops are contaminating your lakes and rivers? Do heavy rains collect in pools and puddles in your yard? The easiest way to help water infiltrate into the ground rather than run off into storm sewers is by creating a raingarden. Strategically place your raingarden on a site that will intercept water runoff. If constructed properly, the garden will drain the water within two days.
View Raingarden Projects
Who can I ask for more help?
- Participating Blue Thumb nursery
- List of Landscapers that attended a Blue Thumb workshop
- Metro Grant Opportunities
- Blue Thumb Partners
Tools to Design My Own Raingarden
- How-To Build a Raingarden Video
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Enter your sun, bloom time and color in the Plant Selector to customize your plant list
- The Blue Thumb Guide to Raingardens - Design and Installation for Homeowners in the Upper Midwest. A valuable raingarden reference guide for homeowners and professional designers. Thoroughly researched and beautifully illustrated, the book is approachable for beginners, yet contains detailed information for landscape professionals. It contains easy-to-follow instructions on: How to locate, size, and design raingardens, Preparing the soil and garden bed, Selecting and installing plants, Care and maintenance, Example garden plans for almost any setting, Water depth tolerances for over 100 plants. The plants profiled in the book are from Zones 3, 4, and 5 in the Midwest.
The Blue Thumb Guide to Raingardens Book is Available...
- Amazon.com (online)
- Bachman’s (in store)
- Landscape Alternatives (in store)
- Minnesota State Horticultural Society(in store)
- Minnesota Landscape Arboretum (in store)
- Mother Earth Garden’s (in store)
- Prairie Restorations (in store)
- Terrace Horticultural Books (online and in store)
Organizations interested in wholesale or large volume orders, please email Waterdrop Innovations LLC at raingardens@yahoo.com.
Other Tools to Design My Own Raingarden
- Project Cost Calculator
- Rain Gardens A how-to manual for homeowners from the UW-Extension Service
- Native Plant Brochure (pdf)
- MPCA Plants for Stormwater Design
- DNR Landscaping with Native Plants