Volunteer work at the Garden can be very rewarding as a time for contemplation of the surroundings and for a feeling of satisfaction from useful work accomplished. Each link below gives you more detail.
March/April 2022 volunteer opportunity
Shelter Docent Volunteer Information - Greeting visitors who enter the Shelter
Invasive Plant Volunteer Information - Spring and Fall work crews
Legacy Volunteer Information - Maintain your section of the Garden
Volunteer time on Friends' activities.
Meet Some Volunteers - Bio's of past and current volunteers.
Photo Gallery - Invasive Plant Removal
Shelter Docent Volunteer Information
Shelter Docents assist in being a friendly human face in the Martha E. Crone Visitors’ Shelter each day during the Garden season - April through October. (Shelter inside photo below) Volunteers do not need to be members of the Friends. Each day there are two volunteer shifts. Weekdays from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM and from 12:30 to 3:30 PM. Saturday from 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM and 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM; Sunday from 12:30 PM to 3:00 PM and 3:00 PM to 5:30 PM. The Shelter Docent’s job is to greet, make visitors feel welcome, and provide access to the resources (reference books, touch and see table, program info, interpretive displays, guidebooks, etc.) available to visitors in the Shelter. You do not need to be knowledgeable about any particular topic as there are resources and naturalists for that. If you have one area of expertise - great! There is a training session, background check and age 18+ requirement.
E-mail the Shelter Volunteer Coordinator-----Back to Top
Below: Inside the Martha Crone Shelter
Here is a short article written by a volunteer: A Rookie's Top Five Wildflower Garden Volunteer Experiences.
Invasive Plant Volunteer Information
Help protect Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden from invasive plants! Events are 2-1/2 hours long – come for as much or as little time as you have. No experience needed. We provide tools and how-to. Co-ordination is by The Friends' Invasive Plant Action Group (FIPAG).
FIPAG was organized in 2007 by Friends Member and director Jim Proctor. This long-standing volunteer project is achieving real results in protecting the Garden from invasive plants. Working first in the Garden and now in the “preservation zone” immediately surrounding the Garden, volunteers participate in weekend group events, removing garlic mustard in the spring and buckthorn in the fall.
Volunteers are notified by email of the schedule of events each season. There are usually 3events in May/June and 3 events in Sept/Oct. Contact the Invasive Plant Volunteer Coordinator with questions or to add your name to the email list - use the e-mail link below.
When a schedule has been set for an invasive removal event, this schedule link will be active:
Spring 2022 Schedule - completed
E-mail the Invasive plant volunteer coordinator
OR
Add your name to our email list
and receive notification of each upcoming event. You can also add emails for our newsletter and monthly mini-newsletters.
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Alliaria officinalis
Rhamnus cathartica
Fallopia japonica
Legacy Volunteer Information
Legacy Volunteers assist the Wildflower Garden staff in the eradication of invasive plants. After receiving training from the Garden Curator each volunteer takes responsibility for a small, but significant, designated section of the Wildflower Garden or the Preservation Zone around the Garden and commits to removing all of the invasive species in their assigned section for the season. Assistance throughout the season is provided by Wildflower Garden staff. Direct inquiries about this program to the Wildflower Garden Curator at ebwg@minneapolisparks.org
If you visit the Martha Crone Shelter, there is a volunteer sign up sheet available there also.
Volunteer for Friends' Committees.
Writing for our newsletter, working on social media, helping with volunteers, willing to serve on the Board of Directors, all of these areas are open to anyone who wishes to help us with our mission. Let us know about your interest with an email to this address.
Meet some current and former volunteers:
From time to time The Friends publish interviews with our volunteers, giving a bit of their history and their reasons for volunteering. You can read these past interviews here. The date next to the name is the year of the interview. We have added a note at the bottom of each interview, where appropriate, updating some of the information.
Here is a short article written by a volunteer: A Rookie's Top Five Wildflower Garden Volunteer Experiences.
Garden theme sale items sponsored by The Friends
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