11001 Midway Road, Dallas, TX 75229

Raincatcher’s Garden of Midway Hills has been a Dallas County Master Gardener research, education, and demonstration project since 2014.  Open to the community every day, the garden has become a favorite location for outdoor lessons for the students at the da Vinci School next door.

Neighbors can often be found picnicking under the shade pavilion or strolling through the gardens after dinner to enjoy the serenity and scent of blooming flowers and herb-lined pathways. With the monarch butterfly migration in spring and fall, photographers delight in capturing their stopovers at the Certified Monarch Waystation.  The courtyard terrace and edible landscape have become focal points for gatherings.

Garden demonstration areas are divided into north and central locations. The gardens in the north part of the campus include the shade pavilion, which is available to reserve through the church office. Gardens in the central part of the campus extend from the parking lot through the courtyard terrace and out to Midway Road.

North garden areas include a pollinator garden, color wheel, fruit orchard, vegetable beds, a new donation garden, mixed borders of assorted bulbs, landscape trees, and a composting area.  The rain garden, courtyard terrace and edible landscape may be found in the central garden area.

To learn about these opportunities and more, please follow our blog at dallasgardenbuzz.com. Posts written by Master Gardeners provide timely updates about gardening as well as events, plant lists, garden-inspired recipes and decorating ideas.

Master Gardeners are on site every Tuesday from 9 am until noon to manage and care for over a dozen different garden areas and over 500 plant varieties. The vegetable team also works on Monday mornings.

715 Rowlett Road, Garland, TX 75040

12411 Templeton Trail, Farmers Branch, TX 75234

Located on land donated by Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, this four-way partnership also includes the city of Farmers Branch, Master Gardeners, and the local community.  The goal of this project is to bring the community together in a shared educational experience and to establish a hands-on charity project.

To that end, 25% of the garden produce is donated to needy families through Metroplex Social Services.

Master Gardeners are available on most Saturday mornings to answer questions and provide hands-on guidance.  Additionally, they lead informational meetings at the Recreation Center focused on best horticultural practices.

1234 Abrams Road, Dallas, TX 75214

Juliette Fowler Homes is a 16-acre community of 375 residents. The Juliette Fowler Garden program is known as Inspiring Gardeners through New Interactions, Time and Education (IGNITE) and seeks to “IGNITE” a cooperative interactive gardening community among residents, employees and volunteers. DCMGA provides leadership and coaches residents, community volunteers and employs the best horticultural practices through hands-on gardening, related activities, and education.  Through the leadership of the DCMGA team, participants are encouraged to explore and establish a positive perspective of gardening and the environment.

Kidd Springs Park
722 West Canty Street, Dallas, TX 75208

Kiest Memorial Garden and Water Rill
2101 West Kiest Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75224

Lake Cliff Park
300 East Colorado Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75303

Oak Cliff Founders Park
1409 North Zang Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75203

In our Oak Cliff Parks project, Master Gardeners partner with Friends of Oak Cliff Parks in their mission to maintain and restore horticulture in the five historic parks of Oak Cliff, those being Lake Cliff Park, the Japanese Garden at Kidd Springs, Kiest Memorial Garden, Founders Park, and Kiest Conservation Area. These parks are graced with beautiful formal rose and crape myrtle gardens, perennial beds, an iris demonstration garden, butterfly/pollinator gardens and the remarkable work of the WPA in the water rill and pergola at Kiest Memorial Garden and the pavilions at Lake Cliff Park.

During 2018, MG and FOCP are installing a crape myrtle demonstration garden in a section of Lake Cliff Park where roses were lost to rosette disease.  This garden is expected to showcase 24 varieties of crape myrtles, mostly miniature and dwarf varieties.

The City of Dallas 2017 bond package included $600,000 for improvements to the Japanese Garden at Kidd Springs.  We will be working hand-in-hand with the City in the restoration and beautification of the hardscape features of the park, while continuing our work to reestablish the softscape.

Away from the dirt, together we also provide educational and social activities that promote the love of gardening.

300 North Galloway Avenue, Mesquite, TX 75149

This preschool garden, founded in 2012 in an economically challenged neighborhood, is supported by the church’s Creative Outreach Group and Master Gardener volunteers.  Thanks to a group of enthusiastic and hard working volunteers, the Academy Kids now benefit from an enriched outdoor environment and the magic of foods fresh from the garden.  Butterfly plants and vegetables grow in raised beds.  The children are engaged in discovering where their food comes from and how they can grow it themselves.  While designed to encourage very young children in an exploration of nature, the garden is also a model of sustainable horticultural practices, including appropriate plant selection, soil amendment, composting and water conservation.  Volunteers generally gather on Friday mornings and new recruits are welcome.

Watch the Sacred Spaces video.

5302 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75235

Located across from Parkland Hospital, the Salvation Army Carr P. Collins Center is the largest multi-use facility in The Salvation Army world. Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the Shelter Care Programs provide safe shelter and hot meals for individuals or families experiencing homelessness. Additional programming and support services are available to assist in a successful transition from homelessness to stability.

The garden project was launched in 2012 to provide a place of serenity for the residents of the facility and the dedicated staff. Master Gardener volunteers provide ongoing monthly maintenance, supplementary plantings and watering when needed. Residents are encouraged to participate, and horticultural best practices are shared by example in this WaterWise/Earth-Kind® garden.

Contributing Partners to this project include the Home Depot, Central Market and the Salvation Army.

8500 Hillcrest Road, Dallas, TX 75225

The Jill Stone Community Garden at Temple Emanu-El was founded and became a Master Gardener project in 2012. Its mission is to provide fresh vegetables to the Vickery Meadow Food Pantry, part of the North Texas Food Bank. The garden is 100% organic, and all of the harvest is donated. One of the Master Gardeners serves weekly at the pantry and acts as a liaison between the pantry and the garden.

This PlantTAGG-enabled garden is in the northernmost stretch of land on the Temple Emanu-El campus and encompasses 13,500 sq feet. There are 41 raised beds, trellises, additional farmers’ rows, and a greenhouse. In 2020 the garden contributed just over 2.5 tons of produce and in 2021, donations are expected to exceed 3 tons. As a certified Monarch Waystation, the garden has several beds with flowering plants to attract and feed the monarchs and other pollinators.

One Master Gardener team member is employed by the Temple preschool and uses the garden as an outdoor classroom for an early education nutrition and farm-to-table program. A core group of about a dozen certified Master Gardeners enjoy sharing their knowledge with other Master Gardeners, interns, and novice gardeners from the community.

Each volunteer has the opportunity to contribute and to learn about best horticultural practices in greenhouse management, plant propagation, soil amendments, growing vegetables, drip irrigation, water-wise gardening, composting, and planting for pollinators.

The Jill Stone Garden is a beautiful, peaceful place to gather with fellow gardeners. We work year-round and get sweaty and dirty, but we wouldn’t trade it for anything. We want to invite all to learn with us, meet friends, and help grow more food for our neighbors! We always have a team there on Wednesday and Sunday mornings from 8:00 am-11:00 am. Please join us!

3601 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, Fair Park (Gate 6) Dallas, TX 75210

Texas Discovery Gardens is a collection of gardens designed to teach effective ways to restore, conserve and preserve nature in an urban setting.  Included are a butterfly house, a water garden, a greenhouse and the EarthKeepers Educators program for children.

Master Gardeners can learn greenhouse propagation and management, become a Butterfly House docent or be an EarthKeepers Tour Guide.

Texas Discovery Gardens (TDG) Fair Park has three unique opportunities for Master Gardeners to volunteer: the TDG Greenhouse, the Butterfly House, and the Master Gardeners’ Garden.

To see a video of the garden’s evolution, please watch the video here. Enter “garden” as the password.

521 East Lawther Drive, Dallas, TX 75218

The entrances to the Bath House Cultural Center and Winfrey Point provided Master Gardeners with an opportunity to create small demonstration gardens in a widely used public space.  Visitors to the park, along with the butterflies and bees, enjoy the artfully planted collection of native and adapted plants.  Master Gardeners maintain the gardens and answer visitor questions about using Earth-Kind® and WaterWise® practices

5201 Celestial Drive, Dallas, TX 75254

The garden at Anne Frank Elementary, Dallas Independent School District’s largest elementary school, was started in 1997 by teachers; and over the years, it has become a true gem.  It includes a gazebo for classes, a pond with fish and a waterfall, raised vegetable beds, an herb garden, a desert garden, a shade garden, compost bins, and numerous pollinator plants.

When Dallas County Master Gardeners became involved in 2012, they expanded and improved upon these “gardens within the garden” and obtained Monarch Waystation certification. The garden’s purpose is to help the multi-cultural student population gain an understanding of ecosystems, an appreciation for food origins and nutrition, and knowledge of plant and animal life cycles.

Activities in the garden have changed as a result of the pandemic. Prior years have included brief lessons and hands-on activities with Master Gardeners. There was always something to taste straight out of the garden.

Current Master Gardener volunteer activities focus on maintaining the garden for the future and for classes who are brought to the garden by their teachers at non-volunteer times. Anne Frank Elementary was the only school garden on the very successful Spring 2022 Dallas County Master Gardener Association Tour.

3600 Cornell Avenue, Dallas, TX 75205

Master Gardeners have volunteered at Armstrong Elementary since 2013, teaching over 500 students from kindergarten to 4^th grade. The children help plant and maintain flower beds on the campus.  They also grow a variety of vegetables and herbs, which they taste in the garden, share with the school cafeteria or donate to a food pantry.

Children help grow nectar and host plants in the pollinator garden, which is a certified Monarch Waystation. Lessons come from the Junior Master Gardener curriculum, and teachers encourage literacy by suggesting books recommended by the librarian that complement featured topics.

Several school groups help support the gardening program.  A student club called PAWS, run by 4^th graders, parents, and former parents, donates the annual floral color. Eagle Scouts, Young Men’s Service League, and high school students help with projects that are too difficult for the younger children or need extra time. The PTA and teaching staff invest in the garden’s needs as well.

Classes are held every Tuesday during the school year, excluding December and January. The Master Gardeners teach a 5 to 10 minute lesson, and then the children break into three groups. Led by parent volunteers and helped by Master Gardeners, students complete a practical application of the lesson for the remaining 20 minutes.

Goals for 2022 include expanding the birding area in the garden by developing a better habitat for birds at the school, creating a curriculum for the birding section, and upgrading the camera so birds can be photographed when no one is present.

3000 Hillbrook Street, Dallas, TX 75214

As a neighborhood school in DISD, Lakewood nurtures a strong level of parental and community support and involvement. Teachers especially appreciate the alignment of the lessons in the Learn, Grow, Eat & Go curriculum with mathematics, science, writing, art, and literature teaching guidelines (TEKS).  Students will learn how to garden while beautifying the Lakewood Outdoor Learning Area (known affectionately as LOLA) by planting wildflowers and native plants. The Dallas County Extension faculty will facilitate programs to engage students in powerful activities to inspire them to practice healthy behaviors, particularly related to growing food, preparing and consuming healthy food, and engaging in meaningful exercise.