Shelter Volunteers assist in staffing the Martha E. Crone Visitors’ Shelter each day. Volunteers do not need to be members of the Friends. Each day there are two volunteer shifts. Weekdays from 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM and from 12:30 to 3:30 PM. Saturday from 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM and 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM; Sunday from 12:30 PM to 3:00 PM and 3:00 PM to 5:30 PM. The Shelter volunteer’s job is to make visitors feel welcome, to answer Wildflower Garden related questions and to show visitors the resources (reference books, touch and see table, program info, interpretive displays, guidebooks, etc.) available to visitors in the Shelter. If you are interested in becoming a Shelter Volunteer please contact the Shelter Volunteer Coordinator -

Under the direction of the Garden Curator and with the support of Wildflower Garden staff, an Invasive Plant Patrol Coordinator leads volunteers on evenings and weekends to help achieve the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s goal of eradicating invasive plants that are threatening the Wildflower Garden’s plant collection. Several volunteer events of this nature take place each season, both within the Garden and in the surrounding buffer zone. The Coordinator sends regular e-mails alerting volunteers on the plant patrol e-mail list about upcoming invasive species removal events throughout the Wildflower Garden season. For more information on this program contact -

E-mail the Invasive plant volunteer coordinator

Legacy Volunteers assist the Wildflower Garden staff in the eradication of invasive plants. After receiving training from the Garden Curator each volunteer takes responsibility for a small, but significant, designated section of the Wildflower Garden and commits to removing all of the invasive species in their assigned section for the season. Assistance throughout the season is provided by Wildflower Garden staff. Direct inquiries about this program to the Wildflower Garden Curator at ebwg@minneapolisparks.org.

If you visit the Martha Crone Shelter, there is a volunteer sign up sheet available there also.

Meet some volunteers: From time to time The Friends publish interviews with our volunteers, giving a bit of their history and their reasons for volunteering. You can read these past interviews by clicking on the person's name. The date next to the name is the year of the interview. We have added a note at the bottom of each interview, where appropriate, updating some of the information.