“Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens has many volunteer opportunities:*Work Parties: The second Saturday of each month; meet in the Volunteer Cottage at 8:45 a.m. for coffee and rolls and embark upon projects with fellow garden enthusiasts. Around noon, share a potluck lunch. There’s a work party March 11 (one week to spring opening and plant sale on March 18). Projects include final clean-up of the grounds; mulching the species rhododendrons in the Asian Garden. On April 8, volunteers begin deadheading and leaf bud pruning rhododendrons. *Hands-on-Horticulture: Come to the Master Gardener sessions from 9 a.m. to noon on the first and third and Thursdays. This year horticulture helpers have planted perennial and rhodie beds, taken cuttings, repaired greenhouse structures, pruned, dead-headed, split wood, collected seed, divided perennials and weeded. *Tour Guide Training: Guided walks through the Meerkerk Gardens are popular with visitors and provide an opportunity to meet new people and learn more about the plant collections in the gardens while viewing the progression of bloom. A guided tour class is scheduled for March 9 and 23 with garden manager Kristi O’Donnell. It will serve as a refresher course for current tour guides and provide information to Master Gardeners and new tour guides. While a guided tour usually lasts one hour, these training tours will begin at 9 a.m. and end around 11. A question and answer session will follow in the Volunteer Cottage with coffee and treats. Volunteers will receive a booklet on the history of Meerkerk and its gardens For information on any of these activities, contact O’Donnell, 360-678-1912; or email meerkerk@whidbey.net.”