Be a Docent

The Regional Parks Botanic Garden welcomes visitors from the diverse Bay Area community and travelers to the Bay Area. You can help the Botanic Garden in its mission to display, promote, and preserve California’s rich native plant heritage by serving as a volunteer garden docent. As a docent, you’ll help garden visitors understand and appreciate California plant life in this exceptional all-native garden. In addition, you become part of a community of volunteers who enjoy new friendships, special presentations, and outings to see California native plants in their natural environments. 

Docent Training Class

The Botanic Garden offers a docent training class, which helps participants develop the knowledge and skills to lead tours and greet visitors. The class covers native plant biology, California ecology, Botanic Garden history, horticulture, Native American uses of plants, tour techniques, and more. To get a sense of the topics covered in the training class, you can look at the 2023 class schedule.

The next class begins January 10 and runs to June 26, 2024. Class sessions will be held every Wednesday morning, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (followed by an optional brown bag lunch). The cost will be $275 (financial assistance may be available if needed), plus a one-year membership in the Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden. Most classes will be held in-person at the Botanic Garden Visitor Center, in the Auditorium, and in the Garden.

Requirements for Docent Training

We are seeking applicants with some knowledge about native plants and experience and interest in engaging with the public; we encourage applicants who can contribute to our goal of diversifying the docent class. In addition, all trainees must be able and willing to:

• Attend classes regularly;
• Navigate email, Zoom, and the Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden website; and
• Lead a minimum of 10 garden tours in the year after the trainee graduates.

More Information

We encourage all applicants to take a tour of the Garden. Visit Free Weekend and Holiday Tours for the schedule.

For more information, or if you are interested in applying to the training class, please contact bgarden@ebparks.org. Note: We are no longer accepting applicants for the 2024 class.  If you are interested in the docent program, send email to that address to be put on a waiting list for the 2025 class.

Main Instructor

Glenn Keator – Glenn is a free-lance botanist, teacher, and writer who initiated the Regional Parks Botanic Garden docent training program. He has taught at Merritt College, Strybing Arboretum, College of Marin, and California Academy of Sciences. His primary interest is California natives, their identification and garden uses. Glenn’s books include Plants of the East Bay Parks, California Plant Families, In Full View: Three Ways of Seeing California Plants, The Life of an Oak: an Intimate Portrait, Designing California Native Gardens: The Plant Community Approach to Artful, Ecological Gardens, and Trees of the San Francisco Bay Region.