CGC Updates: Summer 2026

Neither torrential rain nor stifling heat could stop our summer programming across the board! Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been up to since May’s GrowFest plant sale.

ReRooted Native Plant Propagation

This season, with the help of an amazing team of volunteers, we grew thousands native plants of 64 different species in preparation for our Fall Native Plant Festival on Saturday, September 12. Curious what we’ll have? Here’s the list…but remember, it’s first come, first served! You can also preorder a curated kit of 15 CGC-grown native plants until Friday morning (September 11).

Bountiful Backyard Gardens

When we launched our Bountiful Backyard Gardens initiative, our goal was simple: break down transportation barriers, improve food access, and turn local lawns into hyper-local grocery stores. Now participants’ backyard garden beds across the city are overflowing, generating hundreds of pounds of fresh produce, and the biggest barrier at present is finding enough counter space for the harvest!

Growing Our Teachers

Our fifth Growing Our Teachers cohort of 11 talented educators finished this nine-month professional development opportunity in June ready to apply what they’ve learned in their school gardens this school year! Now we’re getting ready to welcome our 2026-27 cohort, which begins on October 6. Applications are open through the middle of September. If you know someone who might be interested, please share!

Summer Sprouts Summer Camp

In other youth-related news, we had SO much fun hosting summer camp back at the CGC for the first time in years. Our Summer Sprouts campers gathered for a week each in June and August to explore, garden, play games, cook, and build friendships throughout our grounds. We’ll definitely be doing this again next year!

Horticulture Summer Camp

At the CGC, summer camp is no longer just for kids! Our first Horticulture Summer Camp wrapped up on August 1 with a rainy workday planting 150 new native plants out in Hauck Botanic Garden. Over the previous six Saturdays, our nine adult campers played games, did crafts, and learned the fundamentals of horticulture—from soil science to equipment care. They also built relationships with each other that we truly hope will last beyond the summer.

Volunteer-A-Thon

The end of August marked the first checkpoint in our second annual Volunteer-A-Thon!  More than 10 intrepid volunteers have pledged their time for the next three months to help us meet our goal of raising $5,000. I'm so excited to see what we can do! Want to join us? Get all the info here.

Volunteers in Action

CGC volunteers were out and about all summer! We've been in over a dozen gardens around the Greater Cincinnati area. Groups from both Walk of Joy and St. Xavier joined us in July to help tidy up Hauck and the Camp Washington Community Garden. Our Herbarium Lab workdays were an amazing volunteer effort, as was the seed-sorting session that imposed order on a massive donation of seeds in just one day!

The CUF Market Garden

When we first stared at the vacant lot that’s now the CUF restoration site, it looked more suited to growing weeds than veggies. But thanks to an incredible collaboration with Central State University and participants in the Fast Track Farming program, the market garden we installed with our volunteers in the spring is legitimately thriving, with well over 400 pounds of fresh produce harvested. We are incredibly grateful to every single person who picked up a shovel, hauled compost, or just cheered us on from the shade. Together, we turned a dusty dream into literal crates of fresh, hyper-local food.

Coffee in the Garden

Our Coffee in the Garden event was a huge success, bringing more than 130 coffee lovers to Hauck Botanic Garden in June for a morning of great coffee, conversation, and learning. We were thrilled to feature four of Cincinnati’s best local roasters and coffee shops—Deeper Roots, Mom ’n ’Em, Proud Hound, and LaTerza—along with educational sessions exploring how coffee is grown, produced, and distributed more sustainably. It was a delicious reminder that something as simple as a cup of coffee connects us to farmers, communities, and the environment around the world. We’re especially grateful to all four roasters for generously donating all event proceeds to support CGC’s compost program—turning a great morning of coffee into an investment in healthier soil and a more sustainable community.

Looking Ahead

The Fall Native Plant Festival (this weekend!)

Our Fall Native Plant Festival is BACK this Saturday, September 12 from 9am to 3pm! In addition to the CGC (here’s our list), you’ll be able to shop selections from Bean Native Nursery, Green Living By Design, Home Grown Habitats, Junebug’s Natives, Native Roots, Natives in Harmony, Shaker Trace Nursery, Tikkun Farm, Tree-Yo Permaculture, Verdigris Plant Farm, the Walnut Hills Bio Eco Club, and Wild Heart Gardens.

Want to preorder a curated kit of CGC-grown plants for pickup during the festival? If you’re reading this when our newsletter comes out, there’s still time—sales close Friday morning! Learn more and reserve your kit.

The plants have been sown, counted, and tagged…now we finish assembling the team! We still have volunteer shifts available, and we would love to have you on our team. Will you answer the call?

Greenspace Guardians

In November, we’ll graduate our second cohort of Greenspace Guardians. These powerful individuals came together for 26 hours of classroom and field site instruction, then applied their learning to design and complete a 10-hour capstone project. We couldn’t be prouder! Registration is open now for our third cohort as we continue to build a fierce community of informed activists to protect our local greenspaces.

CUF Restoration Project Green Buffer

We’ll be breaking ground on the CUF nature sanctuary this fall with an ambitious installation of ornamental shrubs and perennials along the sidewalk on McMicken! The idea behind this “green buffer” is to create a welcoming landscape for future visitors to the site as well as the broader community. If you want to help us plant, we’ll be out there working on Saturdays, October 17 and October 24!

The Green Teens Challenge

The 2026-27 Green Teens Challenge competition is officially underway! We’re thrilled to be starting in on our fourth year. We’ve seen amazing growth in the projects our region’s students are completing, and the positive impact is undeniable. This year, we’re looking to connect more students with partners and professionals in green industry career fields!

Voluween

When you hire a new Community Engagement Coordinator who self-identifies as a “spooky season girl,” it’s not surprising that the first volunteer appreciation event she plans is a Halloween party—kids welcome and costumes encouraged! Whether you've volunteered with the CGC for decades or you've been meaning to register, we'd love to see you there. RSVPs are open!