33 Longfellow households win the LCC rain garden lottery

Story and photo by MARGIE O’LOUGHLIN

The Longfellow Community Council selected 33 households to receive subsidized rain garden plots this spring. According to LCC’s housing and environment coordinator Joe Sturm, ”More than 200 people registered for the rain garden lottery. Neighborhood interest was very high.”

“All of the residential gardens have now been installed,” Sturm said. “A handful of them went to low-income households earning less than 60% of the area median income. Homeowners paid between $0-$140 depending on if they volunteered, kept their soil or had it removed, and the size of their rain garden.

Storm continued, “We estimate the real cost of each garden to be around $2,000. We have commitments from three neighborhood businesses so far and are still looking for two more businesses to buy into the project. Participating businesses will pay 50% of their rain garden costs.”

Ten rain gardens were installed through this initiative in 2014. The nearly four-fold increase in 2016 installations is due to an expanded partnership with Metro Blooms, and an increase in funding from Hennepin County ( $12,000 from the Legacy Fund), and the City of Minneapolis ($18,000 in the form of a Community Innovation Grant).

Plants were purchased in bulk from Glacial Ridge Growers, whose motto is “restoring the prairie one backyard at a time,” and Bachman’s Floral and Gifts.

The design process was streamlined to keep costs low, with homeowners being able to choose either a small or large sun or shade garden design.

Designers from Mother Earth Gardens were enlisted to visit each site and mark the garden shapes with spray paint. A small army of volunteers did the installations over four days in June, with temperatures ranging between 80–90F. Volunteers included people from Conservation Corps, Green Corps, WSB Architects, US Bank and other organizations. Rain garden recipients also were able to further reduce their cost by helping to install their own and/or other recipients’ gardens.

Jamie Thompson is a new gardener who won the rain garden lottery. She chose to place her garden in the front of her property, where it’s visible from the sidewalk and street. Her family paid $100 for their small shade rain garden, and an additional $40 to have their soil dug and hauled away. Thompson contributed her time by picking up plants at the Longfellow Park distribution site, and planted them with help of volunteers. “The planting map we were given,” Thompson said, “listed the scientific and common names of the plants, as well as where they should be located. That really helped!”

Image left: Jamie Thompson, pictured with daughter Iliana Petrou, was one of the 2016 rain garden lottery winners.

A rain garden is a shallow depression filled with flood-tolerant shrubs, flowers, and grasses. The main functions of a rain garden are to collect and filter storm water runoff, but rain gardens also add beauty to the landscape and may attract butterflies and birds.

“People get excited about rain gardens for a variety of reasons,” Sturm said, “but because all of our plants are native and neonicotinoid-free, you really can’t go wrong.”

When asked if the project would continue, Sturm answered that ”2017 will be a planning and fundraising year. We’ve chosen to follow a biennial trajectory. That means that the next lottery will be held in spring of 2018.”

Check the Longfellow Community Council’s website for updates as the time approaches at www.longfellow.org. If you’re a business wishing to inquire about a rain garden for your location, email Joe Sturm at joe@longfellow.org.