March 2024

Dear Volunteers,

This past month we hosted the Annual Member and Volunteer Briefing and the Interpretive Master Plan Talk. Thank you to those who were able to attend and thank you all for your contributions this past year. These events covered a wide range of topics such as the Strategic Plan, Reimagining SF, and our plans to host Flower Piano from September 13 - 22. I am grateful for all of your support and look forward to our plans for the future. 

We have many opportunities to volunteer at the Gardens in the upcoming months such as the Green Team Group Day on March 14, Earth Day Celebration on April 21, and Gala for the Gardens on May 18. In addition, don't miss our Cupcakes vs. Muffins Potluck on April 3! 

Teen Volunteer Service Learning: Exploring the Sensory Garden
Saturday, March 16, 10am-1pm
Children's Garden, Botanical Garden

Join our education team at San Francisco Botanical Garden to learn about plants while helping with hands-on gardening projects in the Children’s Garden to help steward this local treasure. Join us for one event or all of them this spring. 

Why and how do plants make scents? Make sense of the scents that plants make by helping our team care for the fragrant plants in the Children's Garden and leave the day by making a small bag of tea to take home and enjoy.

Register here >>

Interpretive Volunteer Training Session
Five Tuesdays from April 16 - May 14, 9:30am-12:30pm
In-person

Are you interested in engaging with visitors around botany and biodiversity? Do you have a passion for all things green? Gardens of Golden Gate Park is recruiting new volunteers to join our interpretive volunteer community. Interpretive volunteers serve as ambassadors for the diverse, unique, and important living collections at the Conservatory of Flowers, Japanese Tea Garden, and San Francisco Botanical Garden. Our next session of training for new volunteers will begin this April. To learn more details about this training session and our spring schedule, visit the link below. 

Apply here >>

Bean Sprouts
Ongoing Saturdays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays
Children's Garden, Botanical Garden

Help the Children's Garden education team welcome families for their regularly scheduled Bean Sprouts Family Days. Whether you're a seasoned volunteer or newly joining the Gardens, you're welcome to register for this assignment.  

Register here >>

Earth Day Celebration
Sunday, April 21, 10am-3pm
Great Meadow, Botanical Garden 

Join us for a fun-filled day filled with lots of programming and activities. Celebrate Earth Day and the launch of the new children's book, A Seed Will Grow, by Eunice & Sabrina Moyle. Volunteers will help with program set up, support, and take down. 

Register here >> 

Botanical Garden Horticultural Opportunities
San Francisco Botanical Garden

We are happy to continue to expand our Botanical Garden volunteer horticultural opportunities. We now host three drop-in volunteer assignments each month and continue to host weekly Green Teams on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Help the horticultural team as they maintain our collection at the Botanical Garden in one of the following ways:

Gala for the Gardens
Saturday, May 18
Celebration Garden, Botanical Garden

Join us for the Gardens of Golden Gate Parks' signature fundraising event of the year on May 18, 2024. Alexis Madrigal, co-host of KQED's Forum, will serve as emcee for an afternoon when we celebrate all that we love about the Gardens and honor Dr. Frank Almeda and the Friends of the Japanese Tea Garden. Learn more about our speaker and honorees here. 

Register here >>

The Bookstore will be under construction from approximately March 20 - May 6 to make the entrance ADA compliant. During this time, the Plant Shop will remain open, the online shop will be available, and there will be a Bookstore pop–up at the main entrance, too. We look forward to these enhancements which will make the Bookstore accessible to all.

During this time of transition, we will still continue to host existing Bookstore & Plant Shop volunteers and we will pause new volunteer training. Thank you for your patience and support during this time of transformation. 

Photo and writing contributed by Viviana Velasco, Volunteer Program Intern

Debbie Esters, a retired radiation therapist, began volunteering four years ago. When electing a place to dedicate her time after retirement, she became particularly fond of the Gardens. As soon as she began, it felt like an easy transition. “Coming into the Gardens, I just slipped right in, I felt like I belonged here.” When asked if she had ever felt connections with other fellow volunteers at the Gardens she said, “Yeah, absolutely. We have even talked about when we have jobs to complete in our gardens that are too big for one person, we could have little garden parties.” 

Although Debbie has explored different tasks at the Gardens, she stuck with the Children’s Garden. “I love it. I pulled weeds as a teenager, and when I pull weeds now, I feel like a teenager again.” However, she has now shifted to becoming an interpretive volunteer “... I am getting to the point where I can do it less and less. So I decided to go and become an interpretive volunteer because I am [primarily] talking. And I’m pretty sure I can keep talking until the day I die.” 

When recalling a special memory here at the Gardens, she reminisced about a time where she sat inside a fort built by one of the kids. “It was inviting, comforting, it was this fort in the forest, and I just wanted to stay here. What the kids learn and do and see can be incredible.” And that’s what makes the Gardens so special. According to Debbie, “Every time I go to the Garden, I learn something new.”

Thank you for dedicating your time to learning about the many facets and roles at the Gardens, Debbie!

If you're interested in joining our interpretive volunteer community this spring, please consider completing an application.

Meet-up: Nature Journaling
Monday, March 11, 12-1pm
Library Terrace, Botanical Garden

All volunteers are invited to an informal meet-up group focused on nature journaling. Bring a notebook and supplies and join fellow volunteers for this volunteer led meet-up group inspired by Wild Wonder Foundation. To help you prepare, download their Quick Start Guide to Natural Journaling zine. 

Register here >> 

April Cupcakes vs. Muffins Potluck
Wednesday, April 3, 12:30-1:30pm
Bookstore & Plant Shop, Botanical Garden

Is it a cupcake or a muffin? Join us this spring for a potluck exploring cupcakes and muffins. This convivial celebration is an opportunity to connect with fellow volunteers across the Gardens. All volunteers are invited! Registering ensures you receive the most up to date information about scheduling changes and helps us plan for the event. Please help spread the word.

Register here >> 

Book Group: The End of Night by Paul Bogard
Thursday, April 11, 10am-12pm
San Francisco Botanical Garden

All Gardens volunteers are invited to our next Book Group event. The next book the group will discuss is The End of Night: Searching for Natural Darkness in an Age of Artificial Light by Paul Bogard.

Register here >> 

Visit the Helen Crocker Russell Library and see our new art exhibit, “Intimate Nature: Plants and Landscapes of Central California.” Using a variety of painting techniques, Jeanne Rosen Sofen has created a loving tribute to the beauty and diversity of Central California, from Sierra Nevada mountains to oak woodlands, to coastal hills and redwoods. A lifetime of enjoying and observing the natural world combined with years of exploring painting techniques has brought us this exciting exhibit of paintings of plants and landscapes. In addition to seeing the wonderful new exhibit, check out some great new books that have also been added to the library recently. Here is the link to a list of library staff favorites. 

Did you catch the California Academy of Science's Amorphophallus titanum bloom? Their corpse flower, Mirage, bloomed this past week and many visited our neighbor. Mirage was gifted to them by the Conservatory of Flowers in 2017 and has been under the care of horticulturists at the Academy for the past five years. Read more here. 

The Gardens held a Lunar New Year program with singing, dancing, tai chi, games, and crafts for all ages on February 11. The event hosted 1,200+ patrons! Thank you to all the interns and volunteers who made this a successful day. Special thanks to volunteer Mary Lew for her spirit and dedication in helping this event return to the Gardens.

The new Gardens of Golden Gate Park branding that we worked on with the local design company Office has been featured in a Communication Arts online exhibit. Communication Arts is the largest international trade journal of visual communication (both online and print). You can find the official feature and collection of work here.

Spring is a particularly stunning time at the Gardens and many visitors have been enjoying the magnolias at the Botanical Garden. One of our interpretive volunteers, Justin, recently created an educational video about magnolias. Thank you for sharing what you've learned about magnolias, Justin. Thank you to each one of you who help our visitors connect with plants, the planet, and each other at the Gardens! 

I hope you'll be able to join us at the Gardens soon.

Best wishes, 

Crystal 

Crystal Lee Stone | Volunteer Program Manager

Gardens of Golden Gate Park 

(415) 661-1316 Ext. 400

clstone@gggp.org

P.S. Did you miss an update? Catch up by viewing past newsletters. 

Gardens of Golden Gate Park

1199 9th Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94122