• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Volunteers help keep Rotary Botanical Gardens thriving

Photo Gallery

Rotary Gardens volunteers

The gardens wouldn’t exist without the hundreds of volunteers who work thousands of hours every year.

View Gallery

JANESVILLE — A lot has changed since Mark Dwyer started working at Rotary Botanical Gardens.

Dwyer, the garden's horticulture director, arrived in 1998, when the gardens took up 15 acres.

Now, the gardens have 20 acres and have garnered a number of national awards for their collections.

When he started, Dwyer was the only full-time person working in the gardens, designing, planting and weeding. During the busy months, he was joined by three seasonal workers.

Dwyer still is the only full-time person, but he has five seasonal workers plus a part-time employee.

On the administrative side, the staff has expanded from two full-time to four full-time employees.

But one thing hasn't changed: The gardens wouldn't exist without the hundreds of volunteers who work thousands of hours every year.

When Dwyer tells volunteers, "We couldn't do it without you," he means it.

And he's always willing to embrace newcomers, too.

"Despite great volunteer involvement, we always have need for more help," Dwyer said.

Here's how volunteers keep the garden growing.

The numbers

-- Volunteers: 400.

-- Hours donated: 15,000. The majority of those hours are in the gardens themselves.

-- Annual flowers planted by staff and volunteers each year: 100,000.

The work

-- What volunteers do: Planting, weeding, dividing, watering, labeling, mowing, fertilizing, mulching, pruning, path work, sweeping and tidying. Specialty volunteers do carpentry, electrical work, brick path installation and repair, herbicide application, small and large equipment upkeep and repair.

-- What else they do: Care for whole sections of the gardens all year long, build obelisks benches and other items, clean the fish pond, run the plant sales, run errands, clean and sharpen tools, empty the trash, care for the vegetables grown for the Harvest Fest, water on Sundays, design sheds and outbuildings, paint and bake treats for volunteers.

-- What Dwyer tells volunteers during the 10 a.m. doughnut break: "Let's get back to work. I'm not paying you to sit around and eat."

Some volunteers

-- The "Grumpies:" A group of 20 men and a few women who work Mondays and Thursdays.

-- John Rockenfield, Janesville: A newbie. Rockenfield, who is retired from GM, started volunteering in May and has averaged about 10 hours a week.

"I was looking for something to do, and I heard it was a good place to volunteer," Rockenfield said. "I like working outside; and there are so many things to do. It's always something different."

This week, Rockenfield and fellow volunteer have been working almost every day, digging postholes for a new fence.

-- Bob Altmann, Janesville: He's been volunteering for about nine years and puts in 300 hours a year. He's a retired physical education teacher and coach who worked at the old Marshall School, Franklin Middle School and Craig High School for 40 years.

"I work all winter long," Altmann said. "I'm working with three other guys, and we're building benches and obelisks and a lot of other things."

Altmann does a lot of the staining and painting.

"I like the people down there; they're from all different walks of life," Altmann said. "They're so friendly, you almost automatically feel like part of the group."

-- Mary and David Hunt, Janesville: The Hunts are part of a select group that has a specific part of the garden assigned to their care. They've been working at Rotary since 1996, and each contributes between 25 and 40 hours a summer.

"I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't work there," Mary Hunt said. "One of these years, though, I might have to take a smaller plot."

-- Kristine Zaballos, Whitewater: Zaballos started volunteering at Rotary Gardens in 2007. Last year, she put in about 100 hours.

"I love being in the gardens," Zaballos said. "I always feel like there's a place for me there."

Zaballos, a publications editor for UW Extension in Madison, often goes to the gardens after work when everything is quiet.

"I always feel like I've made a difference," Zaballos said.