volunteer
The Tulsa Garden Center offers three levels of Volunteer Programs to better match each of our volunteer’s busy lifestyles.
Community Volunteer Program
Docent Volunteer Program
Teaching Garden Volunteer Program
Become a Teaching Garden Volunteer!
Learn more by attending our Volunteer Training Open House and visiting our training headquarters!
Rose Garden Volunteer Day, April 2021, organized by TGC Board Member, Cindy Flores
Our Community Volunteer Program can customize volunteer days for most any corporation, college, social, or civic group.
Each year we host multiple corporate and nonprofit groups during the Tulsa Area United Way’s Day of Caring who spread out in the Park and work on projects like painting inside the Carriage House, cleaning up in the Tulsa Arboretum, and pruning roses in the historic Tulsa Rose Garden.
And if you are a college student who needs volunteer hours, look no further! We have needs ranging from administrative tasks inside the office, to working alongside our Garden Manager. We can customize a 4-hour work day to get you through the semester, or schedule a weekly visit so you don’t fall behind with the service hours you need before you graduate.
Appeal to the Great Spirit, a one‐third‐size bronze cast from plaster, was donated to Woodward Park by the Tulsa Central High School Alumni Association in 1985.
The Docent Volunteer Program is geared towards volunteers who would like to spend time interacting with Woodward Park Guests - providing an overall picture of the Park, including our historic roots. Docents will interact with visitors, hand out maps, and guide guests to all there is to see and experience in Woodward Park.
Docent training is a 6-hour training, including a complete walking tour of the Park (wear comfortable shoes!) and Visitor Center orientation. It is generally held on a Saturday from 9am to 3pm, or a weekday from 9am to 3pm (lunch is provided).
When you have completed the training you will be eligible to serve as a Woodward Park Docent at the Teaching Garden & Visitor Center, and you will feel like an expert on all things Woodward Park!
Teaching Garden Volunteer participating in Woodward Park free face painting tent.
teaching garden volunteers
Teaching Garden Volunteer Ambassadors are adults of all ages and backgrounds who love gardening and love sharing their gardening knowledge with the public through tours, demonstrations, classes and other educational activities.
If you can attend a multi-week training program, are willing to help fellow volunteers maintain the Teaching Garden, are willing to learn and provide research-based education to the public, and are able to donate at least 40 hours of your time each calendar year, then this might be the perfect Volunteer Opportunity!
The multi-week training program includes classroom lectures, hands-on training, and affiliated plant society meetings. Training takes place both in the classroom and in the garden, and includes such topics as:
culture of trees, shrubs, annuals, and perennials
plant pathology (diseases)
entomology (insects)
soil fertility
basic botany (how plants grow)
lawn establishment and care
fruit and vegetable gardening
plant propagation
garden design
After basic training, volunteers will become Garden Interns, and after volunteering 40 hours of time in Woodward Park, volunteers will be formally certified as Garden Ambassadors.
For more information about any of our volunteer programs, please contact the Tulsa Garden Center Director of Horticulture, Andy Fusco at AFusco@tulsagardencenter.org.
Volunteers can purchase t-shirts. If your shirt size and color is not available at the time of purchase, you will be notified as such and your shirt will be promptly ordered.