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Volunteer Opportunities
Chadwick Arboretum & Learning Garden Volunteers are an integral part of our programs and operations- from maintaining gardens to preparing mailing and organizing our spring plant sale, they are key players in all of our successes. Here are just a few of the volunteer opportunities available:
Annual Trials
Tuesday, 9 a.m. - 12 noon. Meet in Howlett Hall Greenhouse
Coordinator: Lindsay Diewald Pangborn, diewald.10@osu.edu
Volunteer will help with greenhouse work, plant installations, garden maintenance, propagation, vigor observations, labeling, and guiding tour groups.
Lane Avenue Gardens
Wednesday, 9 a.m. – 12 noon. Meet at the trellis entrance in the Lane Avenue Gardens.
Coordinator: Mike Pfeiffer, pfeiffer.9@osu.edu
Volunteer will perform general garden maintenance in this 14-acre site that includes a labyrinth garden, hosta collection, conifer collection, phenology garden, seasonal displays and more. Volunteers in this garden also help to manage the labeling of plants throughout the gardens.
Learning Gardens
Thursday, 9 a.m. – 12 noon. Meet in 008 Howlett Hall
Coordinator: Kathy Burkholder, burkholder.2@osu.edu
Volunteer helps with general garden maintenance in extensive perennial collections that include early spring ephemerals to late fall bloomers, This heavily visited garden provides and outdoor learning lab for students and the general public.
Tree Inventory and Accessions Management
Flexible dates, but usually on Fridays from 1-4 p.m. Location varies.
Coordinatory: Oliver Firestone, ofirestone@gmail.com
Volunteer assists in identifying, measuring, assessing, and mapping the trees of the Chadwick Arboretum as well as those of the greater campus, Training is provided.
Horticultural Therapy Group
Monday, 9 a.m. -12 noon, July through September.
Meet in Howlett Hall Greenhouse.
Coordinator: Gail Santner, gdsantner@yahoo.con
Volunteer provides basic horticulture experience on a weekly basis (July-September) for Adults with Developmental Disabilities (ADD). Volunteers develop weekly sessions during the off season and secure supplies to implement the program. In addition to horticulture activities this volunteer group participates in the spring plant sale to raise funds and awareness for the Horticulture Therapy Garden and Program. The horticulture therapy garden is designed and maintained by volunteers with assistance from the horticulture staff. A storeroom of supplies is also maintained by volunteers in this program.
Hosta Collection
Flexible dates.
Coordinator: Gretchen Heinke, gheinke@columbus.rr.com
Maintain the Van Wade Hosta Collection in our Lane Avenue Gardens. Labeling the collections is also an integral responsibility of this group.
Phenology Research Garden
Flexible dates.
Contact: Sharon Treaster, treaster.1@osu.edu
The OSU Phenology Network is a state-wide group of replicated gardens. Volunteers record bloom time of plants in our garden and report this data to the coordinator.
Earth-Kind Rose Garden
First Tuesday of the month, March-October, 9 a.m.
Contact: Caye Aiello, cayeaie2@aol.com
Volunteer maintains a substantial planting of Earth Kind roses in our Learning Gardens.
Tour Guides
Contact: Mary Maloney, Maloney.23@osu.edu
One-hour tours are scheduled Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. from May 15 through October 1.
Volunteer is trained in history of the gardens and intent of our plant collections, and provides one hour tours of various garden sites in the Chadwick Arboretum.
Photography
Flexible dates.
Contact: Sherrill Massey, sherrill.massey@gmail.com
Chadwick Arboretum needs photos of our programs and gardens year round. Some of our most iconic photos have been taken during the "off" season when most people aren't trekking about outdoors. Photos might be used to promote our gardens and events.
Willow Collection
Flexible dates
Coordinator: Sharon Treaster, treaster.1@osu.edu
Volunteer throughout the year for general collections management. Volunteers will practice rejuvenation pruning, labeling, inventory, and development of web site information.
Bird Census
Ongoing at the Arboretum North Site
Coordinators: Mike Pfeiffer, pfeiffer.9@osu.edu
Our Arboretum North site with its 3.5 acre pond is an active birding sire for a large number of species. An ongoing census of birds is tracked by visitors in a notebook that is kept in the kiosk north of the pond. Be sure to record the date and the birds you see on site.
Buckeye For Birds
Learning Gardens
Coordinator: Kathy Burkholder, burkholder.2@osu.edu
In early January volunteers "install" discarded Christmas trees on our Learning Gardens and prepare winter foods such as peanut butter, seeds, and fruits for the birds on a weekly basis to help the survive the winter months.
Evening Volunteer Session
Tuesday evenings 5:30pm-7:30 p.m.
The tasks will vary each week where garden maintenance is needed. Volunteers who sign up for this team will receive an email the day prior to the session describing the activity and location. Volunteers in this satellite group quickly experience the breadth of our gardens and outreach programs.
Spring Plant Sale, Auction, and Gardening Fair
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of Mother's Day Weekend
Coordinator: Sue Downey, sdowney@columbus.rr.com
The spring sale, which is our biggest fund raiser, is orchestrated by volunteers. Some committees, such as the plant ordering committee, begin to meet in early fall to develop the plant list. Opportunities vary from site setup to plant ordering. Many opportunities exist for this event- before, during, and after the sale- and this is a great way to meet many of the volunteers who help in all aspects of Chadwick's programs and operations.
