The book The Blue Thumb Guide to Raingardens - Design and Installation for Homeowners in the Upper Midwest is 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.
In addition, the Blue Thumb's Create a Raingarden webpage (http://www.bluethumb.org/raingardens/) is chalked full of resources for raingardens. Resources include:
Virtual Tours of Raingardens
Multiple How-to Videos to Design My Own Raingarden
Tools to Design My Own Raingarden
- Enter your sun exposure, bloom time and color in the Plant Selector to customize your plant list
- 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
Blue Thumb is an educational program of the Rice Creek Watershed District.
For more information on the book or web resources visit http://www.bluethumb.org/raingardens
The Blue Thumb Guide to Raingardens – book and website
Posted: September 11, 2019 by MAEE Administration
Category: Rice Creek Watershed District
The book The Blue Thumb Guide to Raingardens - Design and Installation for Homeowners in the Upper Midwest is 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:
The plants profiled in the book are from Zones 3, 4, and 5 in the Midwest.
In addition, the Blue Thumb's Create a Raingarden webpage (http://www.bluethumb.org/raingardens/) is chalked full of resources for raingardens. Resources include:
- Enter your sun exposure, bloom time and color in the Plant Selector to customize your plant list
- 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
Blue Thumb is an educational program of the Rice Creek Watershed District.
For more information on the book or web resources visit http://www.bluethumb.org/raingardens