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May 2021
Dear Volunteers,
May is always a busy month at the Garden and this year is no different.
Read on to learn about our many volunteer opportunities this spring. I hope you'll join us for Garden Feast on Wednesday, May 19, at 5:30pm, or come out for a docent-led tour back after more than one year on pause. We also have some special features contributed by fellow volunteers in honor of Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
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Garden Camp is looking for counselors!
If you or someone you know wants to join a supportive team that nurtures young minds outdoors, the Garden would love to have you. Camp Staff will spend the summer summer searching for bugs, teaching about plant parts, and tending to the Children's Garden with kids in the community. Full time, paid summer work.
The Garden Bookstore is now Online
Check out our favorite books, bird caps, Cavallini tea towels, and SFBG items at our new online store! Everything is available to be shipped or picked up onsite during Bookstore hours. Garden Members get 10% off online purchases too.
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Green Team
Itching to get outside and do something with your hands? Sign up for the Green Team and work with the Garden's horticulture team to help tend the Garden. Be prepared to help weed, mulch, prune, plant, move soil, and assist with other essential Garden maintenance.
Open shifts on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
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Bean Sprouts Family Days
Bean Sprouts is up and running this spring- now offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays!
With spring here, this program is more popular than ever, and we need your help. If you have already been trained for Bean Sprouts, you can sign up below. If you have not received training but want to join us, please let me know.
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Event Hosts
We are pleased to be able to continue hosting small events in the Garden, and are looking for volunteer support. The role involves greeting guests at the Main Gate and helping guide them to the event site.
The time commitment would be 2-3 hours, primarily on weekends. If interested, please contact Chloe for more information.
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Plant Arbor
The Plant Arbor is now open DAILY, and seeks friendly, out-going volunteers with plant experience and knowledge. You can also help during extending plant offering weekends, held on monthly 2nd Saturdays & Sundays (next dates- June 12 & 13).
Shifts are currently 10am- 1pm and 1pm- 4pm. Stop by to familiarize yourself with current stock and check out what is going on!
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Garden Bookstore
The Garden Bookstore is now open seven days a week! We are looking for volunteers for weekday shifts, 10am-1pm or 1pm-4pm. The bookstore duties include helping customers with bookstore items and information, as well as setting up displays and projects.
The store now has a permanent new awning and an online store. A special thank you to all of the current volunteers who've supported the store since we reopened in October 2020. We could not have done it without you!
Learn more and sign up here
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Special Projects
Green Team Assistant: Support the Green Team by helping clean, sharpen, and organize tools on a weekly or biweekly basis. Preferably an active Green Team volunteer.
Docent Tech: Support the docent program by helping Chloe manage online resources such as the Google site and Groups.io calendar. Estimated time commitment is 4-6 hours per month. All tasks can be done remotely. Preferably someone familiar with the docent program and who is comfortable with technology.
Contact Chloe if interested in either of these roles.
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Garden Tours (in person)
Tours are great opportunities to get into the Garden, meet garden docents, explore the amazing spring blooms, and deepen your connection to the collections. Bring a friend or fellow volunteer and take a guided walk this month! Please register in advance.
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Garden Feast (virtual)
Wednesday, May 19
5:30-6:30pm
While we won’t be able to feast together at the Garden this year, we look forward to celebrating this annual tradition with you online.
The event starts with an immersive exploration of the Garden’s global collections. Keynote speaker Abby Meyer, executive director of Botanic Gardens Conservation International - US, will deepen our understanding of the critical role botanical gardens play in conserving global biodiversity.
Garden Feast benefits the Garden’s education programs and plant collections, which feature more than 8,000 kinds of plants, this special event will include some musical surprises. With schools closed during the pandemic, the Garden has proudly served as an essential outdoor classroom for thousands of children through Bean Sprouts Family Days, summer camp, and after-school programs. Your support will keep educational programs free and underwrite scholarships to our tuition-based programs.
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Enrichment: Understanding and Mitigating Phytophthora at the Presidio Nursery (virtual)
Wednesday, June 9
11am-12pm
Christa Conforti is the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Manager for the Presido Trust. During this presentation, she will discuss the impact of Phytophthora in the California landscape, and how it is linked to management practices in local nurseries.
Phytophthora is a soil born plant pathogen that causes severe stress among California native plants, including Sudden Oak Death. Christa will share her experience at the Presidio and their extensive efforts to protect the spread of this and other pathogens, specifically looking at the case of the Raven's Manzanita, a plant endemic to San Francisco and at risk of extinction.
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In Memory of Mary Pitts (in person)
Celebration Garden
Saturday, June 19, 2pm
The family of Mary Pitts warmly invites you to a memorial for Mary, to be held in the Celebration Garden at 2:00pm on Saturday June 19. The event will be held outdoors, with masks and appropriate social distancing as recommended by the SF Public Health officials at the time. Stay tuned in June for confirmation and additional details.
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Hoi Cheung
In elementary school Hoi Cheung participated in the Children's Walk Program and ever since, the Garden has been a very special place to him. After graduating from university a few years ago, Hoi became a Children's Walk Guide himself! Although school walks have been on pause since the beginning of the pandemic, Hoi stays connected by volunteering with Bean Sprouts Family Days.
“I enjoy the teaching component of my work, but I've found that the children teach me much more. This role challenges me to think from the perspective of a child again.”
We're grateful that Hoi's childhood connection to the Garden now helps him nurture a new generation of children through Bean Sprouts!
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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month
In honor of Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we offer these opportunities to discover a few of the ways the AAPI community supports and engages with the Garden.
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Wishing everyone a wonderful week and hoping to see you in the Garden soon!
All the best,
Chloe
Chloe Wieland | Director of Volunteer Engagement
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San Francisco Botanical Garden
P (415) 661-1316 Ext. 400
C (415) 629-2010
9am-5pm, M-F
cwieland@sfbg.org
P.S. Did you miss an update? Catch up by viewing past newsletters on Volunteer Central.
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