Master Gardener Programming

The Greening of Detroit is looking for Master Gardeners to fulfill their volunteer hours at Lafayette Greens.

Lafayette Greens is an award winning urban garden with 35 raised  garden beds filled with flowers, herbs and vegetables.  The garden is normally open M-F  and staffed by The Greening of Detroit. We have quite a few visitors come through the garden and we want to be open on weekends.  We need your help!

As a MG Volunteer you can help educate and answer questions regarding the flowers, vegetables  and herbs we grow. Most visitors are very curious and love engaging in one on one conversation as they stroll through.  Training and  information is available to you. This is a MSU MG Approved Project!

Who are we?

The Greening of Detroit is a 501(3)c non profit that has operated in the City of Detroit for 30 years!  We have planted over 100,000 trees since 1989 in neighborhoods, parks and greenspaces throughout the City.  We also provide a Workforce Training program for underemployed Detroiters, who learn landscaping, lawn mowing, tree trimming, life skills training and we help them find employment when they complete our training program. 

Why do we need you?

Our garden is open Monday through Friday 9 to 7pm. It is managed by our Garden Manager who is also a Master Gardener and Beekeeper. The  garden is open to the public, who are free to stroll through, sit and have lunch and just enjoy the garden at their leisure.  We have  hundreds of flowering plants, herbs and vegetables that grow in our gardens. This year we want the garden open on the weekends. However based on our funding The Greening of Detroit cannot staff the garden during the weekends. We have seen a big uptick in visitors to the downtown area and the garden is something  that is very unique to a big city.  

What are we looking for?

We have found most of our visitors are super curious and interested in what's growing in the garden, what are the beds made of,  how do we water the plants, do volunteers take care of the beds, who is The Greening of Detroit and so on.   Basically you can just hang out and talk to people. If you like to putz around and deadhead and neaten and straighten up we are ok with that too! This is the perfect volunteer hour logging opportunity where you can help us educate our guests and  visitors.  We have flexible hours, you can volunteer  for 2 hours or all day if  you want.

Who are you?

A Master Gardener who loves to share their passion for the out of doors, vegetable and flower gardening. You are familiar with you way around a garden and are open to talking to people one on one or in a small group.  You might be by yourself or you might be with other volunteers. This is a great chance to sharpen up your skills in a casual environment.

Please contact Sue Hudnut at The Greening if you are interested.  sue@greeningofdetroit.com