Projects

After extensive training, Master Gardeners provide free or low-cost programming and information to the public
by staffing help desks, answering gardening questions, speaking at public events, teaching classes,
writing articles, and partnering with other community organizations, gardens, and educational facilities.
Our projects include:

HORTICULTURE HELP DESK

Get answers to your gardening questions at the Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) office on Stagecoach Road, at farmers markets, and at community events. Find details in Gardening Resources or visit our Facebook page to find answers to frequently asked questions in the “Ask a Master Gardener” section.

SCHOOL GARDEN GRANTS

The Piedmont Master Gardeners annually offer grants to grade K-12 educators for programs related to horticulture or gardening in the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Click on these links to download the 2025 School Grant Guidelines and the 2025 School Garden Grant Application. (Please download this document before filling it out.) The deadline to apply is late February 2025.

SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY GARDENS

Student gardens at three area schools, Greer Elementary, Crozet Elementary, and Stony Point Elementary, benefit from Master Gardener expertise and teaching. Master Gardeners consult on community gardens and assist other organizations with educational programming around gardens.

2023_06_20_The Center_Pollinator Week Celebration

ROSE AND POLLINATOR DEMONSTRATION GARDEN

At The Center at Belvedere, 540 Belvedere Blvd. (off East Rio Road). Tour the garden to learn about how to care for roses and how to grow native plants for pollinators in the landscape and in containers. Master Gardeners and The Center’s Horticulture Club are in the garden from 9 to 10 a.m. every Tuesday, April through October.

SENTARA MARTHA JEFFERSON DEMONSTRATION GARDEN

Adjacent to the amphitheater near the hospital’s cancer treatment center. Come by to learn how to identify and care for the mostly native pollinator plants. Posted information identifies what’s in bloom spring, summer, and fall. Master Gardeners are in the gardens from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Wednesdays, April 2 to November 12, and are happy to answer questions and give a tour.

HEALTHY VIRGINIA LAWNS

This statewide Master Gardener program offers property owners customized, scientific-based information for improving lawns while minimizing the environmental impact of lawn care. Find details about the Healthy Virginia Lawns (HLV) program here.

HEALTHY LANDSCAPES

This program is designed to provide assistance on planning a healthy, sustainable landscape based on the eight elements of conservation landscaping. Find more information here.

MOBILE HELP DESKS

In season, you can find our Mobile Help Desk at the Charlottesville Farmers Market at Ix on the first and third Saturdays of the month and at the Crozet Farmer’s Market on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month. Also look for our Mobile Help Desk and educational exhibits at community events such as the Albemarle County Fair, where Master Gardeners accept, display,
and judge entries.

Mobile Help Desk_Linda Blum, Karen Burnette, and Camille Keely at Grace Church Farm Tour_Beth White photo-fotor-202501118511

GARDEN BASICS AND
SPRING LECTURE

Our monthly Garden Basics classes provide research-based, environmentally sound information you can use right away in your yard and garden. The two-hour sessions are free and open to all, but space is limited. Our annual Spring Lecture features a nationally known speaker and is also free and open to the public. Visit our Events page to register for these programs.

SPEAKERS BUREAU

Our Speakers Bureau matches Master Gardener experts to the gardening interest of other community organizations. Contact Caroline Polk at polkeditorial@gmail.com if your group would like a knowledgeable speaker.

GARDEN GUIDES

Master Gardeners enlighten visitors from around the world each April during Virginia’s Historic Garden Week and act as ambassadors in the Monticello gardens from April through November. See Events for dates and details.

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OF GREATER CHARLOTTESVILLE — PMG LANDSCAPING PARTNERSHIP

Master Gardeners work with Habitat personnel, partner families, and volunteers to design, plant, and provide care instruction for the landscaping of Habitat homes. We focus on education, native plantings, and making connections with the diverse and vibrant Habitat community. In addition, we provide each new homeowner with information about specific plants in the landscape and offer continuing support for landscape care in the future.

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2021_Therapeutic Horticulture_Sensory Garden

THERAPUTIC HORTICULTURE

Master Gardeners bring the therapeutic benefits of gardening and other horticultural activities to participants at the Jefferson Area Board for Aging (JABA) Respite & Enrichment Center and JABA Mary Williams Community Center. This program promotes growth, healing, and participants’ quality of life, while building environmental stewardship in an audience facing physical and mental challenges.

COMMUNITY INFORMATION BROCHURE RACKS & PLANT NORTHERN PIEDMONT NATIVES CAMPAIGN

This program distributes and displays horticulture-based flyers at local garden centers, libraries, and other public locations. We also manage the Plant Northern Piedmont Natives campaign for Charlottesville and Albemarle County, as part of the statewide Plant Virginia Natives effort. By building awareness of the importance of native plants to ecosystems and their reduced maintenance requirements once established, the program encourages both sellers and buyers to increase native plantings in our landscapes.

SPRING PLANT SALE

Buy affordable plants from our members’ own gardens and greenhouses and from ethical growers of native plants at our annual Spring Plant Sale on the first Saturday in May. See Events for details.

NEWSLETTER

Piedmont Master Gardeners publish well-researched, in-depth articles and seasonal gardening tips in our monthly newsletter, The Garden Shed. To be notified when new issues are available, sign up here.

COMMUNITY GARDEN PARTNERS

Master Gardeners partner with four community gardens to provide science-based
horticultural information and resources. Join us and help plant, water, weed, and harvest fresh produce.

BREAD AND ROSES GARDEN AT TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH

1118 Preston Ave, Charlottesville, VA 22903. This faith community garden is based on sustainable landscaping and organic gardening both in the vegetable gardens and in the native habitat landscape plantings. Piedmont Master Gardeners volunteer in the gardens from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Wednesdays and on Community Work Days on the second Saturday morning of the month.

CULTIVATE CHARLOTTESVILLE GARDENS

Piedmont Master Gardeners serve as consultants to the Charlottesville Area Technical Education Center (CATEC) Garden team. Sign up to be a community volunteer.

INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: NEW ROOTS FARM

Piedmont Master Gardeners work with IRC staff and other volunteers throughout the season at garden sites in the Charlottesville area. Check out opportunities to volunteer with the IRC team and to help staff and farmers with ongoing projects, such as planting, cleaning, mulching, and organizing. Sites include New Roots Farm, 410 Old Lynchburg Rd; the 5th Street Community Garden SW; and the Homewood Training Farm, 111 Verdant Lawn Lane.

YANCEY COMMUNITY GARDEN

7625 Porters Rd, Esmont, VA 22937. Since 2020, produce from this garden has brightened the plates of community members and brought neighbors together. Piedmont Master Gardeners volunteer in the gardens every Thursday, March through September, in partnership with Ed Brooks, Yancey Community Center Program Coordinator. Our schedule in the gardens: 3 to 5 p.m. Thursdays, March and April; 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursday, May through September; additional times as needed.