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Public Gardens Volunteer Opportunities

Contact Name: Steve Nosal
Contact Phone: 441-8267
Contact email: snosal@lincoln.ne.gov
More Information on Public Gardens

Wake up the Beds (held every spring at Sunken Gardens)

Wake Up the Beds is an annual event that invites the public to help our gardeners plant annuals in the Sunken Gardens. This event takes place on the first Saturday after May 15th, the frost-free date for Lincoln, Nebraska. Good for individuals or groups.

 

Put the Beds to Bed (held every fall at Sunken Gardens)

The Put the Beds to Bed event is an annual event that invites the public to help our gardeners prepare the Sunken Gardens for winter. We pull annual flowers and spade the garden for winter resting of the soil. This event takes place on the first Saturday of November. Good for individuals or groups.

 

Garden Gab at Sunken Gardens

Weekly “learn and do” sessions during City horticulturists discuss different topics regarding the growth and culture of plants that are currently growing or will be growing in the public gardens.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, Garden Gab starts at 9 a.m. with a 30-minute informative lecture about a horticultural procedure, followed by volunteers using their new knowledge working at the gardens until 3 p.m. (or as their time allows). Meet at the Sunken Gardens pavilion, 27th and Capital Parkway.

Garden GabTopics:
9 a.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays (weather permitting)

  • May: Garden installation techniques, plant establishment, plant identification,
  • June: rose dead-heading, garden pests-identification and their control, maintain water gardens, rose fertilization, shrub trimming.
  • July: Garden docent training, rose dead-heading, watering techniques for different types of gardens.
  • August: Garden photography, garden design, dead-heading annuals and perennials and roses bushes.
  • September: Garden weed control, fall turf management, preparation for garden harvest.
  • October: Soil preparation, garden harvest, fall pond maintenance, putting the beds to bed.

 

The Rose Pruning Demonstration in the Hamann Rose Garden

Held every year the first or second Saturday of April, City horticulturalists demonstrate:

  • Actual proper spring pruning of a hybrid Tea rose and well as shrub roses and miniature roses.
  • Proper maintenance techniques during the entire growing season and discuss general rose care.
  • Proper tool sharpening techniques.

After the demonstration part of the event, the participants practice their new pruning skills throughout the entire rose garden.

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