No Mow grass is a great alternative to the standard Kentucky Bluegrass you find on most lawns. No Mow grass is easy to install and grows to a limited height (approximately 8-10 inches), so you will never need to mow it, saving fossil fuels, water and fertilizer. For more information, read the No Mow Grass Fact Sheet or visit the Prairie Nursery's No Mow Lawn Seed Mix website. 

St. Louis Park property owners who wish to install a no mow landscape on their property need to complete and submit the native vegetation landscaping permit (so we know your landscape is special and not in violation of our weed ordinance). For more alternatives to standard lawns and landscapes, check out this Washington Post article.

Buckthorn is an invasive plant found in many areas of St. Louis Park, the metro area and Minnesota. Although it’s not required, removal of buckthorn from private property is strongly encouraged. The city loans out weed wrenches for a two-week period to any resident, to facilitate the pulling and removal of buckthorn up to 1 inch in diameter. To reserve a wrench, please contact Leah Johnson at 952.924.2562 or ljohnson@stlouisparkmn.gov.

Once you remove buckthorn from your property, bundle it for your weekly yard waste pickup, bring it to the residential brush drop-off site located at 2501 Edgewood Ave. S. (open April – October), or hire a licensed tree contractor. A list of licensed tree service providers can be found under the Tree Care section.

The city arborist is available to answer your questions about tree care, tree diseases, landscaping or other concerns related to your yard and will even make free house calls. The city arborist can also advise you on tree and plant species that are suitable for your home or business site. Read more about selected tree species for St. Louis Park.

For free tree and landscaping advice, contact the city forestry office at 952.924.2562 or ljohnson@stlouisparkmn.gov.

Bur oak blight (BOB) has been identified in the Twin Cities area and is affecting bur oak trees in St. Louis Park. BOB mimics the symptoms of oak wilt disease, with lots of brown leaves appearing in a tree’s crown and falling off during the latter half of the growing season, typically late to mid-July. BOB tends to be most prevalent during growing seasons that start out cool and wet. Successive years of BOB on your tree can kill your tree. The best treatment for BOB is a fungicide treatment administered by a St. Louis Park-licensed tree service in the early spring. Check your bur oak trees now to see if they are displaying and/or losing brown leaves and plan with your licensed tree service for treatment early next spring.

A list of licensed tree service providers in St. Louis Park can be found under the Tree Care section.

If you have a healthy elm tree or an infected oak tree, you may wish to have your tree injected with a fungicide that prevents Dutch elm disease or halts oak wilt disease. The City of St. Louis Park will reimburse you for a portion of the cost of a qualifying injection. Visit the tree treatment page for more information. For questions or concerns about tree injections, contact the city's natural resources division at 952.924.2562 or naturalresources@stlouisparkmn.gov.

Dutch elm disease. Symptoms include wilting of one or more of the upper branches (leaves on these branches turn brown, wilt and eventually fall off) and brown staining of the wood immediately under the bark (in healthy trees, the sapwood is milky white).

Oak wilt disease. A tree infected with oak wilt will have leaf discoloration, which begins at the outer edge of the leaf and progresses inward. Leaves turn a dull green, bronze or tan and finally turn brown and shrivel. Oak wilt may be transmitted from tree to tree through root grafts (root transmission), so two or more oaks growing closely together may infect each other. For more information, visit the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

The emerald ash borer (EAB) is an invasive insect that could potentially kill all ash trees (except mountain ash) in Minnesota. Emerald Ash borer was found in June 2019 in St. Louis Park and is present in all of the surrounding cities.  To help us slow down this insect, DO NOT remove any ash trees or ash wood from your property without first contacting the city’s forestry division at 952.924.2699.

The best way to protect your ash trees from EAB is by injecting them with a systemic insecticide. St. Louis Park has teamed up with Rainbow Treecare to offer discounted preventative EAB injections for ash trees on private property. To schedule a visit or to get an estimate, contact Rainbow Treecare at 952.767.6920 or info@rainbowtreecare.com, or visit the Rainbow Treecare website. To schedule an appointment to have your trees inspected by the city, email ljohnson@stlouisparkmn.gov or call 952.928.1404. Tree inspections are provided by the city at no cost to residents. 

For more information about the emerald ash borer, visit the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' website.

The University of Minnesota Extension Service provides access to master gardeners who can answer questions about gardening, yard care, soil testing, composting, insects and animal predation. There is no charge for this service. Visit extension.umn.edu or call 612.596.2110 for more information. 

We hope you’ll consider adopting a park or garden near you! Monitor one as a family, community group, neighborhood, church or business. It’s a great way to get outdoors and take pride in the community you live in. We just ask that you visit the park twice a month through September to pick up litter and check for damage. (Assignments can be arranged around summer vacation schedules.)

For more information, contact Laura Smith at 952.928.2847 or lsmith@stlouisparkmn.gov.

The City of St. Louis Park does not prune around power lines; this is the responsibility of Xcel Energy. Xcel Energy will contract line clearance (tree pruning from pole to pole) in parts of St. Louis Park to Asplundh Tree Expert Company. Xcel Energy will notify impacted property owners. If you have questions, call Excel Energy at 1.800.895.4999.

If your service line (the power line running from an Xcel power pole to your home) is being obstructed by tree branches, you need to have it cleared by a responsible tree service. Never prune around power lines yourself; leave it to a professional! View a list of licensed tree service providers in St. Louis Park.

Routine pruning of public property trees is handled by city contractors and is typically done during the dormant months of January – March. Boulevard trees are pruned on a rotational schedule. The city uses a tree trimming rotational schedule to prune a portion of the city’s boulevard trees each year.

Pruning trees on private property is the responsibility of individual property owners. Property owners may only use tree services licensed by the City of St. Louis Park. The city licenses tree contractors to ensure they have adequate insurance and qualifications to perform safe and professional tree work. Pruning of trees is strongly recommended during tree dormancy (November – March). View a list of licensed tree service providers under the tree care section.

A watershed is an area of land in which all of the water that drains from it goes into the same place. This place could be a wetland, pond, lake or creek located outside your back door. St. Louis Park residents live in one of two watersheds. View the watershed district map to find out which watershed you live in.

• Minnehaha Creek watershed map
• Bassett Creek watershed map