the public due to health concerns and tours are paused until further notice. Volunteer Work The Northridge Botanical Garden is maintained by facility staff and volunteers. Volunteers are an essential part to the garden in making sure the plants are taken care of and that bigger projects on site are completed in record time. Meetings are held on Thursday morning from 8:30 to 11:30 at the Greenhouse Complex. Registering to become a volunteer isn’t required, but Volunteer Release forms need to be completed the first time a person joins the group. The rules are lax but for safety reasons, a volunteer needs to wear appropriate attire such as closed shoes and gardening clothes. Most of the tasks completed by volunteers are simple and light. Activities such as weeding, starting seeds, transplanting, soil mixing, propagation, minor pruning, composting, grooming of plant material, and repotting are often done. These tasks can be completed singularly or in groups. The benefits of being a volunteer result in long lasting abilities in gardening. Some aspects learned during the work sessions include taking inventory, labeling, record entry, seed collection, etc. Most use the volunteer work at the Botanical Gardens to learn how to care for plants before applying it on their own at home. It’s encouraged to partake in plant trades between volunteers at the Botanical Garden. The main goal of the garden is to have a large diversity in the collection and it’s in the best interest of the garden to have duplicates. If there was ever a chance that a plant was to be lost in the garden, another one can be located in the volunteer’s garden. It’s preferred to have named specimens that enhance the collection for class use. Surplus plant material generated by volunteer work projects is available for adoption by Garden Volunteers. Photographs CSUN Today BeeCityUSA Daily Sundial Popular Culture CSUN’s botany garden has been featured in many articles, websites and media over the years. One of the most notable is the garden’s feature as one of the 50 “most amazing” university gardens by Best Colleges Online. The garden has also been featured on the University own CSUN Today, highlighting the gardens history and commentary from the garden’s manager Brena Kanno. The garden was featured in the Daily Sundial in 2022, as well as a hit feature in the LA Times in 2000. More media that has covered the gardens include: