Community Collaborations

Our volunteer educators collaborate with many other community organizations in project-based volunteer activities to promote healthy people, healthy communities and a healthy planet.

Youth Education with 4-H

A master gardener volunteer is standing at a table teaching five young boys about gardening.

Volunteer educators have nurtured a long-time partnership with UM Extension’s 4-H youth programs.

At a recent 4H STEM event (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) the volunteers provided education about how seeds grow into plants, how trees grow, pollinator gardens and the difference between fruits and vegetables.

Learn more about 4-H at the U of M Extension.

Landscape Revival Native Plant Expo & Market

The St. Paul Audubon Society organizes the Landscape Revival plant sale every spring and features local plant suppliers who have grown native plants without using insecticides. Master Gardeners join many other exhibitors at the Expo to help customers make plant choices and educate them on many gardening topics from pollinators to plant care.

The 2024 event will be held on June 1, 9 am to 1 pm, at Rockpoint Church in Lake Elmo.

Learn more at the Landscape Revival Webpage.

A volunteer educator is outdoors at a nature center to provide education about removing buckthorn

Sally Manzara Interpretive Nature Center

At Sunfish Lake Park in Lake Elmo, volunteers provide education at buckthorn removal events, hosted by the Sally Manzara Nature Center, where the community works together to remove more than 40 years of buckthorn growth. Our Milkweed, Monarchs and Pollinators team attends family events to teach the importance of providing habitat for bees, butterflies and other insects.

Carpenter Nature Center

In a decades-long partnership, volunteers have maintained education gardens at the Carpenter Nature Center that feature low-maintenance gardens that benefit wildlife and pollinators. Volunteer educators also host an Ask A Master Gardener outreach table at events throughout the year.

Learn more about Carpenter Nature Center.

A female volunteer teaches a class about sowing native plant seeds in winter by reusing plastic jugs.

Oakdale Discovery Center

Volunteer educators give classes on gardening-related topics including winter sowing and planting for pollinators at the Oakdale Discovery Center. The classes are published in the Oakdale Update, a booklet listing community events, classes and city news that is published quarterly. and assist with community planting events in the spring and buckthorn removal in the autumn.

Learn more with the Oakdale Update.

An orange butterfly with black edged wings sits on a flower with orange blooms.

Community Thread Rain Gardens

Master Gardeners partnered with community volunteers and, with funding from the Brown’s Creek Watershed District, installed a beautiful rain garden to capture runoff and protect the building and parking lot of Stillwater’s volunteer service organization, Community Thread.

Throughout the growing season volunteer educators partner with community volunteers to maintain the gardens. Volunteers maintain a list of identified plants, which can be viewed in the front office of Community Thread, 2300 Orleans St. Learn more about Community Thread.

Twin Cities Tree Seed Collection

In this project volunteers assist to help offset the impact of climate change on northern Minnesota forest by collecting tree seeds from “climate forward” trees in the Twin Cities area that will become the next generation of boreal forest trees. For example, in late summer volunteers might collect red oak or bur oak acorns for an afternoon to add to the state’s collection.

Many northwoods tree species are dying as temperatures warm, and without intervention the north woods could turn to grasslands within 50 years.

Learn more at Forest Assisted Migration Project.