SATURDAYS 9 AM - 12 PM

Volunteers meet on Saturdays from 9 AM - 12 PM. Scott Shephard and Monica Shephard lead the volunteers. The garden is a traditional English knot garden and requires regular maintenance. You will learn and practice your pruning, planting and weeding skills.

SPRING

Volunteers meet after the camellias have bloomed in the spring to carefully prune the spent blooms and shape the camellias. The lath house which provides filtered shade for the camellias is cleaned in the late spring and early summer. Every few years, we restain the lath house supports. Check our web site for notices announcing camellia lath house volunteer opportunities.

Thursday 9 AM - 11 AM

Volunteers meet on Thursdays 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM during summer and 9 AM - 11 AM during the cooler months. Paul Ziegler and Kathryn Whitlock lead the volunteers. Volunteers will practice intensive vegetable gardening using the square foot garden method. The garden provides a steady flow of fresh produce to the Food Bank.

SATURDAYS 9 AM - 12 PM SPRING/FALL & AFTER STORMS

Volunteers meet in the spring, fall and after storm events to pick up debris and trim trees. Volunteers also work throughout the seasons on Saturdays for gentle trimming and maintenance of the beds which protect trees from mower damage. The goal of our work is to maintain the health of the trees and teach techniques that can be applied to home gardens. The arboretum includes canopy trees, understory trees and shrubs. You can see paw paw, spice bush, native azaleas, cercis (red bud), forest pansy, native persimmon, elderberry, blackberry, downy hawthorn and many unusual native plants suitable for an urban garden. Check our website for notices announcing arboretum volunteer opportunities or look for us in the garden.

Thursdays 8:30 AM - 12 PM

Volunteers meet on Tuesdays 8:30 AM to 12 PM. Vickie Reid and Monica Shephard lead volunteers in this urban oasis for pollinators. This garden has been completely renovated and now hosts plants that support our native pollinators throughout their life cycles. An invasive species, houttuynia cordata (chameleon plant), is actively managed and controlled. The garden design includes plants that host butterfly and moth larva and plants that provide high quality pollen and nectar for pollinating insects and birds. Wildflowers planted from seed in the garden beds and in the lawn area provide color in every season. Volunteers will learn and practice skills needed to manage an aggressive invasive species, plant and nurture native species in an urban garden, and nurture and support pollinators.

TUESDAYS 8:30 AM - 12 PM

This garden is maintained with the native plant & pollinator garden. It provides a source of water for insects and birds. Volunteers will learn how to select and care for plants in the three microclimates created by the fountain.