Volunteer

Volunteering with The Hort brings soul to the city.

When you are a member of the Horticultural Societies of Parkdale & Toronto we have opportunities for constructive, co-operative efforts, and for shared gardening experiences.

The Society is, by definition, a group of companions. Together, as teams of kindred spirits, we make things happen. Help run events or tackle projects! Maybe join the board, or serve on a committee? We hope to always move forward with our combined energy and initiative, to always do better. Come and see what you would like to do, and who you would like to work with.

Don’t forget about our community garden projects — a great place to volunteer if you don’t have a garden of your own!

There are many opportunities to join in the fun, and your input and ideas are a valued part of our society.

For more information about our projects and how you can participate, please email info@parkdaletorontohort.com.

There’s something for everybody; volunteer opportunities abound at The Hort. If you re not a member yet, please join us here.

Meetings

At meetings we prepare for our members to attend the meeting, setting up chairs and refreshments. We'll always welcome a helping hand for this and clean-up after the meeting. 

Board of Directors

If you are interested in joining the board, you should be a member of the Hort. Please introduce yourself to us at one of our meetings and let us know a bit about yourself. We'd like to get to know you a little bit. November is when we vote on new board members. 

Plant Fair - Our Annual Fundraiser

In May we hold our main fundraising event to fund our support for community gardens in our area that apply for funding. It is held on the Saturday after the long weekend. We appreciate the help of lots of volunteers for this event, doing everything from being on the committee, digging up and preparing donated plants before the event, growing seedlings, to helping at the event for a couple of hours and everything in between. Please reach out to us at plantfair@parkdaletorontohort.com to ask about how you can help.

Gardening

We have our own public garden project in a downtown park where volunteers help with the gardening. It's in Stanley Park North, near King and Strachan Ave, and is a mostly native-pollinator friendly garden. If you are interested in being part of a group of fun people looking after this garden, you should become a member of the Hort. Attend one of our meetings and let us know you're interested in helping at Kathy's Garden. We usually meet once a week at the garden and you can join us as much or as little as you have time for.

Education & Outreach

If you like giving workshops about plantings, helping people foster a love growing things, you might like to join our Education & Outreach committee. Please contact Ron Charlemagne at educationandoutreach@parkdaletorontohort.com

Articles

The Hort newsletter arrives in member’s email inboxes the third week of the month. It's timed to arrive before our general meetings. The meetings take place on the last Monday of the month, from September to May, with the exception of December.

Members are encouraged to submit articles about things of interest to gardeners. Articles should be no longer that 1,500 word. And they should be submitted by, say, the 15th of the month.

It’s always best to send photos with your submission if they’re available.

Please send articles for inclusion in the newsletter by email to newsletter@parkdaletorontohort.com.

Photos

We love great photos! They should be of good quality, so that they don't look fuzzy in the newsletter (or on the website).

All images should be in colour unless they’re heritage files.

Please include suggested captions to identify the photos, especially if you’re sending more than one. Please give us full permission to use your photos on our website, newsletter or social media  when you send them to us.