Archives
Auxiliary Workshop
Auxiliary Workshop Garden
Children’s Garden Program
Docents / Tour Guides
Horticultural Sales
Membership
Publicity Committee
Shop @ The Gardens
Social Committee
Trail Watchers
Volunteer Gardeners

Royal Botanical Gardens holds a collection of approximately 30,000 horticultural items housed at RBG Centre. There are catalogues, price lists, flyers, correspondence, information booklets and other materials, primarily in print but sometimes in electronic form or film. These are of considerable value to heritage garden designers, agricultural and botanical researchers, and historians to name a few. Materials have been collected from Canada, the United States and 37 other countries around the world. Our Canadian Historical Horticultural Catalogue Collection is believed to be the largest in Canada with nearly 10,000 items, all entered in a searchable database. We continue to add to the collection.

The work of volunteers in this section is meticulous. It involves discussion and decision-making, staple removal, sorting, hand labeling acid-free envelopes, electronic data entry, and storage in acid-free boxes. As botanical and historical researchers contact us, we help them access catalogues and other materials pertinent to their studies. The work, which began in the summer of 2007, continues with a team of 6 to 8 members, volunteering two mornings a week, year round.

We welcome new members to the group who enjoy detailed work and a congenial atmosphere.

 

The Auxiliary Workshop is a group of volunteers interested in floral design, who meet every Tuesday and/or Thursday to produce quality arrangements that are sold through Shop @ The Gardens to promote and support Royal Botanical Gardens.

Some of these arrangements are dried bouquets made from plant material grown in our own Auxiliary Garden. Others are floral designs using purchased silk and dried botanical components. We also produce fresh designs for RBG events and other occasions, under the leadership of the chair of the Fresh Flower Arranging Committee.

We have a collegial group of volunteers, including several long-time members/judges, who give individual guidance and support to newcomers. We offer short demos/classes to inspire our group and to challenge ourselves.

In September we start preparing for our Christmas Show and Sale and Evergreen Design Workshops which are held in November and December.

Come and join us. Bring your tools, your own mug and your sense of fun. We look forward to meeting you!

 

The Auxiliary Workshop flower arrangers like to make flower arrangements utilizing fresh plant material, dried materials, and artificial flowers. The source for the dried flowers is the Auxiliary Workshop Garden at Hendrie Park where after propagation from seed, we plant, maintain and harvest the flowering plants when ready. The flowers are bundled and hung for drying – ready for dried flower arrangements or integrated in other arrangements. The Garden is maintained by volunteers on Tuesday and Thursday mornings as required.

 

The Children's Garden Program runs from the middle of May to the third week in August. The program has been running for over 50 years. Children between the ages of five and seven are in the Sow and Grow Program and children from eight to thirteen are registered as Junior Gardeners. Each child in the Junior Gardens program is assigned their own garden plot in the children’s garden area within Hendrie Park. The children learn to garden along with an interesting programs that includes crafts and learning about their environment. At harvest time the children have lots of vegetable produce to take home and enjoy. The Auxiliary provide volunteers to assist the staff and children with the two Children’s Garden Programs, on Saturdays, each week.

 

Would you enjoy meeting new people, welcoming visitors to Royal Botanical Gardens and making their visit more satisfying by answering their questions? If so, you may be interested in our friendly docent group.

We provide information to our visitors in several different ways.

• Tour Guides enjoy leading group tours of the beautiful gardens. Training is provided. Tour Guide hours are very flexible and tours are usually one or two hours in length.
• If you enjoy promoting RBG and interacting with the public, Special Events volunteering is for you. Training is provided as needed and you are usually with a partner. Events you may participate in include: interpretation at RBG special events; RBG membership sales at events; manning the booth at gardening events; and so on.
• Volunteers greet visitors at the Information Desk as they arrive and advise them about the various gardens, services and amenities at RBG. Volunteers are usually scheduled for 2 or 3 hours.
• The Gardening Information group answers gardening questions from members and the general public by e-mail, phone or in person. Volunteers are usually scheduled for 2 or 3 hours.

To keep informed of upcoming events and requests for their services, the docents have monthly meetings with informative and entertaining guest speakers.

 

Nothing excites a gardener more than the smell of fresh earth. Come and join the “Potters” in the Plant Sales area at the Arborteum, where we are responsible for the potting and care of all the plants we sell year round. In January, when your garden is buried under a ton of ice and snow, come and join us in the greenhouse and ‘play in our dirt’. We work away all winter long on Tuesdays and Thursdays and maybe a few other days as well, in a warm greenhouse. The purpose of our fun culminates with our Annual Spring Plant Sale in May, but doesn’t stop here. We continue to enjoy and develop our potted plants and nursery beds all summer long.

As well as plants, we trim and dry used spring bulbs from RBG’s various display gardens which we then sell at our June Bulb Sale.

Our activities start to wind down after our Fall Plant Sale in September, and our planning then begins for next winter’s fun in the greenhouse.

We are a mixed group of men and women, master gardeners and beginners. Please come and join us.

 

The Membership and Placement Committee is a small team of Auxiliary members who screen, interview, assist in placement and orientate new Auxiliary volunteers. We respond to requests from RBG staff for volunteers for special tasks and from committee chairs for additional volunteers. We provide follow-up contact and support for new volunteers. We track numbers of volunteers, auxiliary annual dues, and volunteer hours contributed.

The team is active all year, busiest in the spring during our annual membership drive. We meet on alternate weeks and provide a monthly orientation session for new volunteers.

 

The Publicity Committee is a group of Auxiliary members who produce the Auxiliary Newsletter, photograph Auxiliary events, reach out in local communities to promote RBG, and develop and place advertising for the various Auxiliary fundraising.

The Newsletter Committee is active throughout the year, gathering and editing contributions, both written and photographic. The Annual Report is published in February, and there are two newsletters per year, one in the spring and one in the fall.

‘Friends of RBG’ is a new program that RBG has recently introduced. The program is based on what many of us are already doing – promoting RBG! It’s a way for us to reach out in our local communities by finding ways to distribute handouts and brochures. Feedback and information/training sessions with RBG are held on a monthly basis.

 

Volunteers are needed to assist in all areas of the gift shop activities, behind the scenes and in sales. Shop @ The Gardens is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

 

The Social Committee is a group of very creative and enthusiastic members. We coordinate social activities and assure sufficient help at all Auxiliary events.

The Social Committee’s main tasks are to plan and facilitate the meals/refreshments for the February Annual General Meeting and Luncheon in February, as well as the Spring and Fall Breakfast Meetings. When requested, we assist the other committees in providing refreshments for their auxiliary events. In addition, we oversee the provision of refreshments and raffles for the monthly Auxiliary Docent Meetings.

 

If you enjoy hiking our trails, passing through the Carolinian Forest, and would like to 'DO SOMETHING' to assist Royal Botanical Gardens in keeping the trails safe, we have 'something' for you.

As a Trail Watcher, you will hike 'your chosen' trails within any of the five RBG properties (Hendrie Valley, South Shores of Cootes, North Shores of Cootes, Rock Chapel and the Berry Tract), at least once a month. While on the hike, you are asked to record any sightings of potential safety issues to RBG's Head of Nature Lands. Trail Watchers can hike with friends or family all year, weather permitting, and at their own convenience. A Volunteer Trail Watch Program Manual and maps are provided for easy reference to potential trail/tree hazards, missing or vandalized signage, and suggested responses to frequently asked questions upon enrolment as a Volunteer Trail Watcher.

To acknowledge the valuable volunteer service provided by Trail Watchers, and to support and supplement their nature interpretation skills, trail watchers also enjoy monthly, staff-guided field trips on RBG trails to broaden their knowledge of the nature sanctuaries, the ecosystems and diverse plant and animal populations.

 

Volunteer Gardeners assist RBG garden staff with routine maintenance of the gardens at Hendrie Park, Laking Garden, and at the Arboretum.

Volunteer Gardeners start in May, following the Auxiliary Plant Sale, and end in October or until the Head Gardeners no longer need assistance. Gardeners work in Laking Garden on Tuesday mornings, in the Arboretum on Wednesday mornings, and at Hendrie Park on Thursday mornings.