Volunteer News June 2026
- Jun 13
- 7 min read
06/13/2026
Message From The Coordinator
June is a perfect moment to pause, reflect, and take stock of our volunteer projects and experiences so far this year. You’ve already contributed so much in 2026, and we deeply appreciate the time, energy, and heart you’ve dedicated to the Ramsey County Program.
As a friendly reminder, please take a moment to report your volunteer and continuing education hours. Logging your time helps us recognize your contributions, meet program goals, secure funding, and plan more effectively. Most importantly, it ensures that the impact you make is fully counted.
Thank you again for everything you do to support our community and this program.
June Updates
Congratulations!
Please congratulate these Garden Education Volunteers on completing their internship requirements in the past month: Carole Gerber, Helen McCarthy, Pat Roth and Jamie Tricker.
Nominate a Volunteer
Have you been inspired by another RGEV volunteer this spring? Nominate them for one of RGEV's annual awards! This is a great way to recognize those Garden Education Volunteers who go above and beyond.
GEV Name Badges
Darren Lochner has the new name badges with “Garden Education Volunteer” and he is working to mail them to volunteers in batches. If you haven’t received your badge yet, please come to the June meeting on Tuesday 6/16 at the Barn to pick it up. Thanks for your patience! If you are wondering when to use which badge, the Extension State Leadership Team has provided guidelines.
Your Monthly Plant Pun:
What did one plant enthusiast say to the other plant enthusiast? (Search for the answer somewhere below.)
Non-Profit News
The Ramsey County Master Gardeners nonprofit is a 501(c)(3) organization that is separate from the University of Minnesota Extension Garden Education Volunteer Program and helps raise funds for volunteer activities.
Board Blurb
The RGEV Board of Directors Meeting was held on June 9, 2026, on Zoom. The next Board Meeting will be on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Zoom. All volunteers are welcome to attend. (By computer, smartphone, or tablet on Zoom Video Conference with Meeting ID: 949 4344 4368 and Passcode: 060589.)
Grant Application Process
Are you dreaming about starting a new project or expanding an existing project but are held back because of costs? The Ramsey County Master Gardeners (RCMG) Nonprofit Corporation’s Finance Committee is pleased to announce that additional funds could be available! Julie Bechtold has outlined the Project Grants Request application process.
Volunteer Stories
Volunteers are continually doing great work in the community. Take a moment to read about what your Garden Education Volunteer peers are doing and ask them about it when you see them at events and activities. Click HERE to share your project stories and inspire your fellow volunteers.
Plant Sale Success!
On behalf of Plant Sale Committee Chairs Cheryl Brady & Molly O'Rourke--Many thanks to everyone who helped make the 2026 Ramsey County Plant Sale a success. Your time and effort made the Plant Sale possible, and we truly appreciate it. We are also happy to report that the 2027 Plant Sale will again be held at Aldrich Arena on Saturday, May 15, 2027.
Garden Gnomes!
At Farmers Markets in New Brighton, Little Canada, St. Paul’s Hmongtown Market or West St. Paul, we give kids a hands-on learning activity related to gardening. Our young visitors enjoy seeing how seeds grow, gathering pollen, and guessing what plant parts we eat. But there is no doubt that the most popular activity is the Good Bug, Bad Bug lesson. Children and adults love looking at the preserved specimens, especially using the magnifying lenses or magiscopes. We have a great opportunity to talk about how insects can be both good and bad and how to deal with them in an environmentally friendly fashion.
Chasing Wildflowers (Book Review)
In May, the Book Club read and discussed Chasing Wildflowers: An Adventurous Guide to Finding Minnesota’s Native Flowers in Their Unique Habitats by Phyllis Root with photography by Kelly Povo. This book is chock full of gorgeous half-page photographs of the plants they discovered as they traveled from Lake Superior’s rocky North Shore to a conifer swamp and then fens, a Jack pine woodland, sand dunes, a dry hill prairie, rocky outcrops, a forested floodplain, a goat prairie, and the Driftless area. You can borrow a copy of this book or many others for continuing education credits but please remember to return them.
Plant Swap
In May, RGEV volunteer Brianna Gohde tested a new type of community-building option for volunteers with the Plant Swap 2026 sign-up. Initially intended to help rehome extra seed starts, the sign-up is being used to announce and exchange garden and garden-adjacent items. It’s been a great success and we’ll continue to use this over the years. If you have things to share, contact Brianna Gohde (brianna.gohde@gmail.com).
Volunteer Activities
New volunteer activities are announced on Thursday mornings and Sunday nights. If you are not receiving SignUp Genius notices, please contact rcmg2@umn.edu.
Keep on Entering Your Volunteer Hours
We are now into the growing season, and things are getting really busy. Please make sure you have recorded all of the time you spent volunteering so far this year. With the many great things happening now and into the coming months, it will be hard to remember if you wait too long. If you do wait and those experiences accumulate before you have a chance to enter them, look at Don Muske’s video tip regarding SUG in Volunteer Tips and Tricks on the website.
Find a Volunteer Activity Near You
Want to help out in your neighborhood? Check out the 2026 RGEV Project Map and then visit the related Sign Up Genius pages to get involved! What an easy way to support your community!
Ramsey County Yard Waste Sites: 6/13-6/28
Ramsey County’s Department of Environmental Health operates seven yard waste collection sites. They also fund our Garden Education Volunteer Program. To support the volunteer program, ALL VOLUNTEERS should sign up for a shift at one of the compost sites so we can fulfill our responsibility to the county.
Monthly Meeting Volunteer Roles: 6/16
Help out at the next monthly meeting. Every month we need volunteers to make our meetings run smoothly. This month, we need help with: Journalists, Moderators and Parking Assistants. Sign up to volunteer.
Yard and Garden Phone Line: 7/11-7/17
Sign up to answer residents’ garden questions from home through the Arboretum’s Yard & Garden hotline. These are excellent opportunities to volunteer remotely and build your garden knowledge at your own pace (and with your reference materials readily available).
Blooming St Paul Nominations
The Blooming St Paul Showcase Nomination Form is live! Nominate a garden (or multiple gardens) that inspire you while earning volunteer hours or join a neighborhood walk in July and August.
Answer to Your Monthly Plant Pun:
(What did one plant enthusiast say to the other plant enthusiast?)Botany plants lately?
Education Opportunities
Find approved opportunities to learn more on the RCMG website, the State MG Volunteer website, the MN Landscape Arboretum, or through Extension. Check with the program coordinator about other local events and learning opportunities.
June Monthly Meeting: 6/16
The June Monthly Meeting will be held in-person only at the Ramsey County Barn on June 16, from 6:30-8:15 p.m. The Education Committee has put together a variety of garden demonstrations. This is a great chance to meet other volunteers in a relaxed, outside setting and hear from our fellow volunteers. The demonstrations include: making soil blocks, root washing, and composting with red worms. (Note: The A/V team does plan to record sessions and post them on our website for those unable to attend.)
2026 Learning Garden Tour: 7/11
The 2026 Hennepin County Master Gardener Volunteer Learning Garden Tour is scheduled for Saturday, July 11, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (rain or shine). This self-guided tour features ten unique private residence gardens across Bloomington, Edina, Minneapolis, and Richfield communities. Each garden stop is a home garden of a Hennepin County Master Gardener volunteer.
July Book Club: 7/28
The RGEV Book Club will meet on Tuesday, July 28th, to discuss Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control by Jessica Walliser. Walliser is a horticulturist and award-winning author of seven gardening books, including Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting for the Vegetable Garden read by the book club in 2024. The book includes profiles of beneficial insects, profiles of plants that support these insects,
interviews with entomologists, and suggestions for creating insectary plantings and borders.
Featured Speaker for July Monthly Meeting: 7/21
At the July 21 Monthly Meeting, our featured speaker will be Rhonda Fleming Hayes. Rhonda is a local author who has written Garden for Life: Strategies for Easier, Greener, More Joyful Gardening as We Age. In Garden for Life, Rhonda brings a lifetime of gardening experience, research-based advice, and collective wisdom to older gardeners who are looking for inspiration and practical strategies. Garden for Life reminds us that gardening is a simple way to answer the human need to connect with nature, a craving called biophilia, while highlighting its many proven health benefits. For those who are interested, copies of her book will be available for purchase for $25 prior to the meeting.
SAVE THE DATE! August Monthly Meeting at the Bell Museum: 8/18
The August Monthly Meeting will be at the Bell Museum at 5:30 p.m. on August 18. The presentation will be about the nationally renowned Bell Museum Herbarium at the University of Minnesota. We are extremely fortunate to be able to learn about the Herbarium from two distinguished scientists from the Bell Museum. George Weiblan is the Science Director of the Bell Museum and Curator of Plants and Professor. Tim Whitfeld is the Collections Manager of the Bell Museum's Herbarium. Be on the look out for early registration.
Calendar
In-person office hours with Darren at the Maplewood Extension Office on Wednesdays (10am-2pm). Sign up here. Contact him directly to schedule additional times.
6/13-6/28 – Ramsey County Yard Waste Sites
6/16 – Monthly Meeting held in-person at the Barn.
6/26-6/27 – State Master Gardener Conference
7/11-7/17 – Yard and Garden Phone Line
7/14 – Board Meeting
7/28 – RGEV Book Club
8/18 – August Monthly Meeting held at Bell Museum
