Volunteer

Volunteer at Beal

Beal Botanical Garden and Campus Arboretum relies on dedicated volunteers to help accomplish the many tasks throughout the garden. Volunteering can also provide a variety of benefits to you as well:

Work with our expert staff and learn about gardening, botany, and horticulture in a fun and casual way!
Spend time outside connecting with nature and getting a little dirty in our campus oasis.
Earn hours toward Master Gardener Certification. (if you are pursuing one)
Take part in enrichment workshops and explore the many ways people, plants, and place are connected.
Join a community of fun and hardworking volunteers, students, and staff to keep our garden healthy and beautiful!

Volunteer Opportunities

We have several different opportunities to volunteer. These change seasonally. Please contact our Volunteer Coordinator, David Price, if you have questions.

Weekly Garden Volunteering

Join us in the garden every Wednesday, May - October from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. to help care for our collections and our space. Help weed, water, plant, and prune as we chat, learn, and grow together. No experience needed.

two women working on a fence along a river ban

Weekend Tabling

Have a passion for connecting plants and people? Join us in the garden to share knowledge about our plants with weekend visitors. We provide the topic, knowledge, and supplies, you provide the passion and enthusiasm!

an older woman and a child doing an activity at an outdoor event table

Events

The garden is host to several events throughout the year, everything from our annual Music and the Garden summer concert series to our BealFest extravaganza in the fall. Volunteers help us assemble activities and giveaways, prepare the garden for visitors, and staff tables during events. Help us make our events memorable and fun for all!

large crowd at an outdoor event in a garden

And More...

There is always something to do at Beal Botanical Garden and Campus Arboretum. From removing invasive plants and taking photos to help us tell our story to updating database records, our volunteers are an integral part of the team. And so can you!

group of people posing with large weeds pulled from a garde

Get Started Today

Interested in joining our volunteer squad? Sign up to explore all of our volunteer opportunities. You can also dip your toes into volunteering with us by coming to one of our open workdays on our Events page. These are not always available, so check back often for updates.

Questions? Contact our Volunteer Coordinator, David Price, at priced11@msu.edu.

Volunteer Sign Up

Photos courtesy of Derrick Turner, University Communications (left, center) and W.J. Beal Botanical Garden (right).