Volunteer

Master Rain Gardeners work on the rain gardens at Thurston Elementary School

Rain Garden Volunteering

You can get involved by adopting a public rain garden or helping a nearby school with its schoolyard rain garden. 

Rain Garden Stewards

Stewards adopt a single rain garden and care for it throughout the year. Often stewards will remove weeds, collect seeds, prune shrubs, trim back vegetation, deadhead, and remove sediment. Some volunteers work in pairs or small groups, while others work on their own. No experience necessary! As long as you are willing to learn, we can teach you everything you need to know to be a rain garden steward. 

Rain Garden Maintenance Factsheets

You can become a Master Rain Gardener by taking the in-person or online class and then volunteering for one year as a rain garden steward. 

Other Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteers can help with educational activities like teaching about water quality at Rural Education Days, assisting with Schoolyard Rain Garden projects, or helping table at Earth Day or similar events.

Volunteers can also help by doing photo-monitoring of public rain gardens in each season. 

Be a Rain Garden Resource in your Neighborhood 

  • Help out Master Rain Gardeners-in-training on the forum, in the Facebook group, or in class in person. 
  • Document your rain garden in some cool way that we could share online. Create a how-to YouTube video or share your story using stop-motion photography. Be creative!
  • Share your rain garden: have a garden party where you show off your rain garden. Put your garden on a local garden tour.  Invite a local garden club.
  • Give rain garden advice on social media. Does someone have a yard drainage question? Speak up!

View a map of public rain gardens. If you would like to learn more about any of the volunteer programs, contact Catie Wytychak at [email protected] or call 734-222-6813.