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Plants for Stormwater Design� Interactive Selection Tool for Stormwater Professionals and the Public

Rich Harrison and Megan Reich

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Presentation�Outline

INTRODUCTIONS 3
PROJECT GOALS 5
THE PLAN 10
NEXT STEPS 14
QUESTIONS 17

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Introductions

Rich Harrison

Landscape Architect and

Co-Director Of Design at Metro Blooms Design+Build

Megan Reich

Communications and Program Manager at Metro Blooms

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Rich: My name is Rich Harrison and I’m honored to be here presenting at the Minnesota Watersheds Conference. I am a Landscape Architect and Co-Director of Design at Metro Blooms Design+Build. Metro Blooms partners with communities to create resilient landscapes and foster clean watersheds, embracing the values of equity and inclusion to solve environmental challenges.

I’ve been at Metro Blooms over 10 years now, Co-Creating resilient landscapes of all scales in the metro area with community members and property owners. I help lead a design team, installation and landcare crews, as well as teaching at Resilient Yards workshops, and help lead Sustainable Landcare Training programs, building a knowledgeable workforce within communities that we serve, to ensure successful projects into the future.

Megan: My name is Megan Reich, and I am the Communications and Program Manager at Metro Blooms, where I support communications planning and content for Metro Blooms, Blue Thumb, and Design + Build programming. I also help facilitate the Lawns to Legumes program, which Metro Blooms coordinates with the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources.

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Blue Thumb—Planting for Clean Water and Pollinators

Partnership of clean water and native plant-focused organizations (local governmental units, non-profit organizations, and private companies)

Educational program of Metro Blooms

Helps coordinate the statewide Lawns to Legumes program with MN BWSR

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Blue Thumb + the Plant Finder

Feature on the Blue Thumb website since ~2010
Demand and interest in native plant landscaping + stormwater BMPs growing
Current Plant Finder receives over 4,000 visits per year

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Megan: The Plant Finder has been a long-time feature of the Blue Thumb website, back when Blue Thumb was a program of the Rice Creek Watershed District. Rice Creek handed the Blue Thumb program to Metro Blooms in 2015. The Plant Finder was at one point the premier native plant finder tool in the state. Ten years and three websites later, however, it is just lucky to still exist. Yet, thousands of Minnesotans still look to it every year to help them decide what to plant in their gardens.

With demand for and interest in green infrastructure and sustainable landscaping practices only growing, we’ve been feeling the need to update the Plant Finder Tool to make it easier to use and more useful for stormwater management professionals and members of the general public, both groups that visit the Blue Thumb website for resources and information.

Blue Thumb’s reach has been growing, with 80,000 annual users in 2023. The Plant Finder receives over 4,000 visits and over 3,000 unique users per year, so this is unique opportunity to bring a native plant-focused tool to a large audience coming from a variety of backgrounds and knowledge levels, from first-time gardeners to watershed professionals.

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Who is using the Blue Thumb Plant finder tool?

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Who is using the Blue Thumb Plant Finder tool?

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Plant Finder Improvement Project

Project support from the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center and Minnesota Stormwater Research Council, with funding from the Clean Water Fund established by Minnesota Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment

Project collaborators included Metro Blooms, the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and a statewide advisory team

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�Why improve the online Plant Finder?

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Let’s Put This in Context

Why is Green Infrastructure so important?

Pre-Colonial landscapes have been drastically altered, adversely affecting our waterways and ecosystems

Traditional infrastructure systems are aged and failing

Sometimes, lower-tech is the best tech

Tens of thousands of Green Stormwater Infrastructure projects exist in Minnesota alone, with more being installed every year.

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Rich

Green infrastructure is vegetated stormwater management systems that are designed to mitigate the impervious surfaces we've built on the earth. It's goal is to mimic the hydrology that was here before colonization. Before logging, before agriculture, and before the automobile with all its roads, drive lanes and parking lots, and before urbanization with all of its houses, buildings and industry and pipes…often termed Pre-development, or Pre-Colonial Landscapes.

So what was here before colonization? We acknowledge that we live on native land! This is the The ancestral homeland of the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples who still live today. In the past the indigenous peoples thrived on this land that was dominated by native flora and fauna that co-evolved together for millenia.

When it comes to vegetation and plant selection, we try to understand the dynamic biomes and plant communities that were here in Mni Sóta, literally translating to in Dakota to Clear Water. We live in Mni Sóta Makọce, which the “Land Where the Waters Reflect the Clouds.”

All of this has been designed to SHED the water away as quickly as possible. After all, we are all here together at the Minnesota Watershed conference. The way that we have designed an engineer the landscape with this WATERSHED mentality has screwed everything up! Not only that, but the traditional infrastructure of pipes and roads are old and are failing!

Many of the folks at this conference work to help clean and manage stormwater in a variety of ways. We know, we need all the help we can get. But there are a variety of sites and projects where all that’s needed is a raingarden.

The need for green infrastructure is growing. Tens of thousands of Green Stormwater Infrastructure projects exist in MN, with more being installed every year.

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Green Infrastructure comes in many names and forms:

GSI / Stormwater BMPs, Biofiltration/infiltration, Rain Gardens, � Tree Trenches, wet/dry detention/retention ponds �

benefits beyond stormwater

Reduce heat islands
Provide quality food source and habitat for wildlife
Sequester carbon
Bring beauty to our neighborhoods

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Rich:

Green Infrastructure comes in many forms, with many different names. Vegetated Stormwater Management Systems, GSI (Green Stormwater Infrastructure),Stormwater BMPs (Best Management Practices)

In addition to Permeable Pavement and other underground storage and infiltration systems,GI Vegetated Stormwater Management Practices include: Bioswales, biofiltration and biofiltration basins, tree trenches, wet and dry ponds and vegetated buffer strips. At Metro blooms, we've been teaching about Rain Gardens for about 20 years now.

Beyond infiltrated stormwater, vegetated BMPs like raingardens create many benefits that make our watersheds more resilient, including reducing heat islands, providing habitat for wildlife, adding green space for people, sequestering carbon, and bringing beauty to our neighborhoods

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Best benefits of them all!

Flowers are pretty and so are our winged friends they attract.
Brings us joy and improves our wellbeing

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Obstacles / Challenges to

Vegetated Stormwater Infrastructure

Projects need to have plants that thrive in the site conditions to be successful.
Vegetated stormwater management systems �are very stressful

HEAT / THERMAL POLLUTION
SEDIMENTATION
EROSION
HERBIVORES
DISTURBANCES / COMPACTION � FROM PEOPLE AND CARS
AGGRESSIVE WEEDS
SALT

Projects need to be maintained �(especially during the establishment period) �to be successful

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Rich:

Across the state and every year, vegetated stormwater Best Management Practices fail. One project cannot solve every problem, but a commonly observed factor in failed vegetated BMPs is the use of plants inappropriately selected for the conditions they experience. In spite of the plethora of information and guidance available to support practitioners as they plan and design projects, dry upland prairie plants are installed at the bottom of an infiltration basin, salt-sensitive plants are put beside salt-treated roads, and delicate, short-lived and slow-to-establish perennials are planted where they experience the unfortunately common combination of high invasive weed pressure and a low-maintenance regime.

Stress and disturbance include: heat, Sedimentation, erosion, herbivores, people and cars, aggressive weeds and Salt

For a vegetated stormwater management project to be successful, it must have plants that are suited for the site’s conditions. A resource like the Plant Finder can help stormwater professionals easily choose appropriate and successful native plant species and seed mixes for vegetated stormwater practices in different site conditions and state regions.

Projects also need to be maintained (especially over the establishment period) to be successful. Upon completion, the updated Plant Finder will be linked to vegetated stormwater practice information currently being updated in the Minnesota Stormwater Manual, a comprehensive and still-growing collection of background and design information about stormwater Best Management Practices for stormwater practitioners across the state.

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OUR GOAL

Create/update an online tool that will help stormwater practitioners and individuals select native plants that are best suited to thrive in their projects.

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Megan: So to recap, our goal is to improve the Plant Finder as online tool that helps stormwater practitioners and individuals select native plants that are best suited to thrive in their projects. This will ultimately benefit Minnesota waters by improving the performance of BMPs throughout the state.

It is also worthwhile to note that functioning BMPs have the additional benefit of increasing the public perception of raingardens and other vegetated practices, potentially leading to higher adoption rates of these practices among residents and increased amounts of runoff that is directed to such practices instead of to our local lakes, rivers, wetlands and streams.

These residential practices are typically beyond the control of local stormwater managers, yet we know that residential practices can add up to have significant impacts on our waters.

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The Plan

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Determine what information the Plant Finder needs to have, and where to find it.

2. Combine information into one database.

3. Shape search and filter options to help planners find the best plants for their site.

4. Launch the improved Plant Finder.

5. Gather and incorporate feedback.

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Step 1: What Information to Include?

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SURVEY

Stormwater practitioners, landscape designers, conservationists, project planners

CONVENE

Advisory team of ~10 individuals of the surveyed audience

RANK

Prioritize specific information as specified in the survey and by the Advisory Team

RESEARCH

What information already exists, and where can we pull it from?

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Step 1: What Information to Include?

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RANKED SURVEY RESULTS

set	Categories	Mean	Olympic Average	Median
1	Native Range	4.64	4.75	5.00
1	Pollinator forage	4.57	4.67	5.00
2	Erosion stabilizing	4.36	4.42	4.00
1	Behavior, "mild to wild"	4.29	4.42	4.50
1	Salt tolerance	4.14	4.33	5.00
1	BMP Appropriateness	4.00	4.08	4.00
2	Herbivore sensitivity	3.71	3.83	4.00
3	Seed availability	3.71	3.75	4.00
3	Plant availability	3.71	3.75	4.00
3	Plant longevity	3.71	3.83	4.00

set	Categories	Mean	Olympic Average	Median
2	Climate Resilience	3.64	3.75	4.00
2	Water flow tolerance	3.50	3.58	3.50
1	Nitrogen fixing	3.36	3.42	3.50
2	Maintenance requirements	3.36	3.42	3.50
3	Time to establishment	3.36	3.33	3.50
3	Disease susceptibility	3.29	3.25	3.00
3	Germination code	3.07	3.08	3.00
2	Aesthetics/design potential	2.93	2.92	3.00
2	Compaction loosening	2.71	2.75	3.00

RANKED SURVEY RESULTS (continued)

Megan: This is a copy of the survey results that ended up deciding our categories. After brainstorming potential categories of information to add to the plant finder, and gathering more ideas from others in the field, we asked our audiences to rank each category from 1-5 based on the importance of incorporating that data into the plant finder.

One thing to note, we didn’t rank any of the categories of information that the old Plant Finder already had, like sunlight or soil moisture requirements. We used an Olympic Average (dropping the single highest and lowest score in each category) to help buffer the results against any single person’s extreme prejudices—but you can see, using the mean or median would have given us more or less the same result.

As you can see, by every metric, people wanted to be able to sort the plants by their native range within the state, as well as have some way to tell which plants were better for pollinators.

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Incorporating Existing Information

https://stormwater.pca.state.mn.us/index.php?title=Minnesota_plant_lists

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Links with Relevant Information

MN Stormwater Manual exists to help practitioners better manage stormwater

A lot of technical BMP information
Some additional plant information

Seed Mixes (BWSR, MN DOT)

Salt tolerant plants

Pollinator friendly BMP for stormwater management

Bioretention

Trees

https://stormwater.pca.state.mn.us/

Incorporating Existing Information

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Step 2: Incorporating Data

Native Range
Pollinator Value
Stress Tolerances
Behavior (rate of spread)
Salt tolerance
Inundation tolerance
Project type fit
Other common names

+150 more plants

New photos

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Step 2: Incorporating Data

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Minnesota Wildflowers

MNL

Light Dark Landscape

Ecoscapes

Megan: Not only were we adding new categories of data, but we also did a little pruning of the plants we already had in the Plant Finder—mostly removing species that aren’t commercially available--and added about 150 more. The updated Plant Finder totals about 330 plant species, with a goal of striking a balance between plants most beneficial to stormwater and pollinator planting projects while also being available for purchase.

We also took this opportunity to update many of the plant photos on the tool. Minnesota Wildflowers.info and Blue Thumb partners Minnesota Native Landscapes, Ecoscapes, Light Dark Landscape were kind enough to share their images for use in the Plant Finder.

Pictured (left to right): Dwarf bush honeysuckle (MN Wildflowers), Dotted Blazingstar (MNL), Long Headed Coneflower (Ecoscapes), and Lead Plant (Light Dark Landscape)

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Next Steps

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Continue to reiterate and refine tool based on gathered feedback over the next couple months.
Launch the improved Plant Finder.
Promote Plant Finder for use over winter and into spring of 2024.

Completed

In Progress

Determine what information the Plant Finder needs to have, and where to find it.
Combine information into one database.
Launch Beta version of Plant Finder and begin collecting feedback.
Refine search and filter options to help planners find the best plants for their site.

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Try it out!

We’ve got about 95% of the data we need up, and are seeking your feedback!

You can see the database and provide feedback at bluethumb.org/plant-finder

Give us patience as we get it a little closer to “up to snuff”

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Megan: This is where you come in! On this slide you can see a preview of the first iteration of the plant finder. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been working with our web developer to fix blatant errors, missing photos, and strange formatting, and he’ll also be improving the search and filter elements so that they are easier to use.

Feel free to check in from time to time to see it improve. We would love to hear your feedback. When you go into the tool, there will be an option for filling out a short feedback form. We’re building this tool to be used—and in all likelihood, to be used by people like you, or the people you work with.

All you’ve got to go to is bluethumb.org/plant-finder. We hope you have some fun with it, and consider using this tool in your own projects and planning in the future. As we launch the final version of the tool, please share it widely with your clients, watershed constituents, neighbors, and friends. Be on the lookout for shareable marketing materials in the spring.

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Plant Finder Demonstration

Give us some site conditions (real or hypothetical), and let’s see what native plants the Plant Finder suggests!

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Acknowledgements

Additional Team Members

Aaron Hinz, MPCA

Ab Fleming, Metro Blooms Design+Build

Dan Shaw, MN BWSR

John Bly, Metro Blooms

Megan Reich, Metro Blooms

Mike Trojan, MPCA

Rich Harrison, Metro Blooms Design+Build

Advisory Team

Amanda Gentry, Winona County SWCD

Bre Bauerly, MNL

Carol Kuechler

Jessica Petersen, DNR

John Stelzner, Dakota County SWCD

Paul Erdmann, RWMWD

Rachel Funke, CRWD

Simba Blood

Wes Olmschenk, MNL

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center through an appropriation from the Clean Water Fund established by Minnesota Clean Water Land and Legacy Amendment and from the Minnesota Stormwater Research Council with financial contributions from:

Capitol Region Watershed District
Comfort Lake-Forest Lake Watershed District
Mississippi Watershed Management Organization
Nine Mile Creek Watershed District
Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District
South Washington Watershed District
City of Edina
City of Minnetonka
City of Woodbury, and
Wenck Associates
Minnesota Cities Stormwater Coalition

For more information about the Center and the Council, visit https://www.wrc.umn.edu/projects/storm-waste-water

For more information about the Minnesota Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment, visit https://www.legacy.mn.gov/about-funds

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Water Resources Center or the Minnesota Stormwater Research Council.

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Thank You!

bluethumb.org/plant-finder