Full List of CGC Programs

The CGC may be a small organization, but we do a lot of different things! Here’s a list of all our current programming in alphabetical order, with links to learn more where relevant.

Art & Music in the Garden

Art, music and nature are a beautiful fit. That’s why we use our unique space to host live concerts, house art installations and offer classes that facilitate personal expression. In 2025, we held our first outdoor jazz performance and laid the groundwork for our four-part Hauck Concert Series.

Botany Bistro

Understanding the complex processes of how plants thrive helps people maintain healthy garden ecosystems in their landscapes and empowers them to protect and nurture natural spaces. Our virtual Botany Bistro series welcomes learners of all levels to further their knowledge of plants through short, engaging videos. Learn more.

Bountiful Backyard Gardens

Bountiful Backyard Gardens aims to support growing produce in urban areas, thus increasing access to fresh local food. Partnering with likeminded organizations, we supply a mix of new and inactive gardeners with raised beds, plants, seeds, trellises, soil, compost and more to ensure a healthy, bountiful harvest.

Cincinnati Conservation Stewards (CCS)

Cincinnati Conservation Stewards is a volunteer training program created in partnership with Cincinnati Parks. Focusing on public parks and preserves, CCS trains volunteers to help with each step of the restoration process with the aim of supporting conservation efforts and inspiring the next generation of park enthusiasts. Learn more.

Civic Gardener Development Training (CGDT)

Designed for anyone who wants to grow food where they are, this 11-week training program covers seed starting, regenerative agriculture, funding garden projects, integrated pest management, construction techniques and more. Graduates who become garden coordinators are eligible to join our Community Garden Network. Learn more.

Classes

We pride ourselves on being a place for our community to gather and learn alongside each other. From growing food to managing invasive plants, making wine to pressing flowers, and plenty of topics in between, our staff and partner presenters provide affordable, high-quality educational opportunities to all who want to learn with us. Learn more.

Community Garden Network

The more than 60 members of our Community Garden Network enjoy benefits like access to materials, tools and volunteers; yearly seed and plant distributions; education opportunities; inclusion on our community garden map; an invitation to our annual Flavors of the Garden event; and more. Membership is free! Learn more.

Compost Kids Field Trips

Our Compost Kids field trips offer teachers and students from kindergarten to grade 6 a chance to engage in scientific inquiry while learning about key components of sustainable living. Utilizing a station-based approach, Compost Kids walks students through each step of the composting process from kitchen scraps to healthy soil. Learn more.

Event Rentals

Our lush urban retreat is perfect for meetings, parties, showers, lectures, receptions, corporate events and more—and all rental fees directly support a nonprofit organization that’s served Cincinnati since its founding in 1942. Learn more.

Flavors of the Garden

Each September, as the growing season draws to a close, we gather with members of our Urban Agriculture community to celebrate the harvest. We gather outside, share our harvests and favorite recipes with one another, get to know our fellow gardeners and enjoy an evening in beautiful Hauck Botanic Garden together.

Garden Helpers

The CGC community is full of people who love to garden, and every gardener needs a little help now and then! For a donation of any amount, our Garden Helpers service connects gardeners in need of paid or volunteer garden help with people who are able and willing to provide assistance. Learn more.

Green Learning Station (GLS)

Our Green Learning Station is a former SOHIO gas station turned LEED Platinum certified environmental education center, complete with pervious pavement, a green roof and wall, solar panels, a mural and propagation rooms. With the 2022 addition of two electric vehicle charging stations, the space is once again a spot to refuel! Learn more.

Green Teens Challenge

The Green Teens Challenge gives high school students and teachers a foundation from which to explore creative solutions to today’s climate crisis! It’s a multidisciplinary competition designed to engage students of every ability, skill and interest level in aspects of urban agriculture and environmental sustainability. Learn more.

Green Teens Field Studies

Held on the CGC’s grounds as part of our Green Teens Challenge, our Field Studies bring classroom learning to life, connecting directly to the themes of the Challenge and giving high school students the chance to explore big ideas like conservation, biodiversity, renewable energy and urban food systems in real-world settings. Learn more.

Green Teens Workforce Development

Our workforce development program engages high school juniors and seniors in hands-on urban agriculture, conservation and environmental education tasks that are essential to ecological sustainability in the Cincinnati region with the goal of building the next generation of environmental advocates and green industry leaders. Learn more.

Greenspace Guardians

Our Greenspace Guardians training series gives volunteers the resources and know-how to jumpstart and maintain greenspace projects in their communities with the goal of supporting local governments, nonprofits and neighborhood groups that manage public greenspace for the benefit of the broader community. Learn more.

Growing Our Teachers (GOT)

This cohort-based professional development opportunity helps teachers to take their school gardens to the next level and further integrate Farm to School education into their schools. Over nine monthly sessions, educators explore a range of topics to foster empowerment, address challenges and build peer-to-peer support. Learn more.

Hauck Arboretum

In 2024, we achieved recognition as an ArbNet Level 1 Accredited Arboretum. This accreditation allows us to continue our role as leaders in Cincinnati’s network of public gardens and, as our work in urban forest restoration expands, collaborate with and learn from other professional organizations with common goals. Learn more.

Hauck Gardens

Hauck is an urban oasis that houses many beautiful gardens: the Tranquility Garden, Children’s Garden, Veggie & Herb Gardens, Food Forest, Ornamental Natives Garden, Woodland Edge Garden, rain gardens and more. They continue to evolve as generations of volunteers and horticulturists leave their mark on this historic space. Learn more.

HUB Garden Classes

Throughout the summer, we hold classes and garden-based cooking demonstrations in some of our thriving community gardens around the Greater Cincinnati area. HUB classes are free and open to the public and cover topics like soil health, integrated pest management, season extension, container gardening and more. Learn more.

Internships

We are often approached by high school, college and higher education students interested in designing their own internship based around an aspect of the CGC’s work. No matter where they focus, what hours they work or how long they stay with us, these young people enrich our organization with their enthusiasm and ideas.

Lil’ Sprouts

Whether at the CGC or at a partner organization, Lil’ Sprouts is our drop-in series that gives gardeners and nature lovers ages 3 to 8 and their caregivers an opportunity to learn more about the natural world through fun nature-based crafts, activities, hands-on demonstrations and more. Learn more.

Lobby Library

We are often asked for introductory information around conservation, urban agriculture, horticulture and the CGC—so we created a series of single-page handouts around each of those four topics. These handouts are available for free in our lobby to anyone who wants to stop by and pick one up.

Market Garden Training (MGT)

Our Market Garden Training is designed to help growers take their vegetable gardening to the next level while contributing to our local food system and helping to support themselves and their families. The series teaches participants to apply business principles in a small-scale, for-profit agriculture setting. Learn more.

Nurturing the Mind

Presented in partnership with the Episcopal Retirement Services Center for Memory Support and Inclusion, this dementia-friendly series provides a safe, welcoming environment in which people living with dementia and their care partners can socialize and engage in learning and hands-on, nature-focused activities in a beautiful space.

Outdoor Classroom

Hauck Botanic Garden serves as an extension of our learning space here at the CGC. We use it for field trips, classes, tours, educational volunteer workdays, demonstration gardens and more. Our cultivation of and care for this space enables it to provide endless opportunities for visitors of all ages to engage with the natural world. Learn more.

Outreach Programs

Our staff offers programming in partnership with public libraries, community groups, garden clubs, community councils and more. We’re happy to share what we know around conservation, urban agriculture and horticulture!

Plant Festivals (GrowFest & the Fall Native Plant Festival)

Our two annual festivals aim to build community around gardening while providing education and hard-to-find plants. Formerly known as THE Plant Sale, GrowFest celebrates all things urban agriculture, while our Fall Native Plant Festival is a multi-vendor celebration of all things native plants. All interests and skill levels are welcome! Learn more.

Pollinator Garden Partnerships

Through our Pollinator Garden Partnerships, we join forces with other local organizations and our unstoppable volunteers to bring native plants out into Cincinnati’s communities—creating beautiful, educational gardens and habitats for urban wildlife in the neighborhoods that need them most. Learn more.

Queen City Food Quest (QCFQ)

Developed to bring the love of local food to Cincinnati’s fourth-grade students, the three dynamic sessions of Queen City Food Quest explore concepts like whole vs. processed foods, food miles and how ingredients are grown. During the final session, students create their own handmade pizzas using locally sourced ingredients! Learn more.

ReRooted

ReRooted is a unique seed-saving and plant propagation program that focuses on straight species native plants indigenous to southwest Ohio. The program produces thousands of native plants each year that go out into our local community while giving students, volunteers and gardeners hands-on experience growing native plants. Learn more.

School Garden Lessons

We work with teachers to meet their students in school gardens for hands-on, garden-based education programs for students in kindergarten and above. Lessons are aligned with Ohio Revised Science Standards and Next Generation Science Standards and can be tailored to each school’s needs, interests and garden space. Learn more.

School Garden Network

The Greater Cincinnati region has loads of school gardens! Gardens that join our School Garden Network enjoy access our free resources, our monthly school garden newsletter, a listing on our School Garden Network Map, opportunities for individualized support and more. Learn more.

Summer Sprouts

Summer Sprouts is our summertime garden-to-table experience for children. For many years, campers from nearby summer camps visited our Pendleton Children’s Garden each week to explore the garden and prepare a snack. This format no longer works for our partner camps, so Summer Sprouts will be revamped for 2026!

Tour: Self-Guided

In 2024, we laid the groundwork something visitors have been asking for for years: maps of the gardens and a self-guided tour! Now park visitors can pick up one of our brochures or scan the QR code on our door, then follow hand-drawn maps through the park, identifying the plants that grow there as they go. Learn more.

Tours: Free

We offer three monthly tours that are free and open to the public! Our Compost Tour looks at the seven methods of composting we employ. On our Hauck Arboretum Tour, visitors explore beautiful Hauck Botanic Garden, and our Green Learning Station Tour, they meet our LEED Platinum certified environmental education center. Learn more.

Volunteering in Community Gardens

The 60+ offsite community gardens in the CGC’s network often need some extra assistance with maintenance, infrastructure, improvement projects and more. Any garden in our network can request volunteer workdays, and each workday differs depending on the garden’s specific needs. Learn more.

Volunteering at Conservation Sites

Whether it’s a forest beside a school or a vacant lot, we work with volunteers to restore and maintain urban greenspaces around Cincinnati. We hold one-off workdays at sites as well as regular Saturday workdays Walnut Woods of Evanston, our longest-running project and first restoration site—now an official Cincinnati park! Learn more.

Volunteering for Festivals & Events

We wouldn’t be able to put on our two plant festivals—GrowFest in the spring and the Fall Native Plant Festival in September—without extensive volunteer support. From setting up the events to helping with a variety of day-of roles to helping break everything down, these volunteers augment our staff of 11 into a team capable of anything. Learn more.

Volunteering as Field Trip Facilitators

Each spring and fall, we welcome students in grades K-12 to our grounds for nature-based field trips: Compost Kids for K-6 and Green Teens for 7-12. Each field trip station is run by a specially trained volunteer facilitator committed to educating the next generation on environmental issues. Learn more.

Volunteering in Groups

We have volunteer opportunities for groups of all sizes and types: corporate groups, college groups, community groups, church groups…you name it! Groups of 8-15 volunteers work together to help us maintain our grounds, help at one of the many community gardens in our network or lend a hand at one of our conservation sites. Learn more.

Volunteering for Hands On at Hauck

This Friday morning workday runs weekly from March to November. Volunteers join us for some hands-on gardening experience as we care for Hauck Botanic Garden, the 100-year-old park that serves as our outdoor classroom and the backdrop for everything we do. Free and open to the public; no experience required. Learn more.