Programs & Workshops

We are pleased to offer both on-line and in-person programs.
Please take careful note if your program is online or at the Garden. Email gardenprograms@berkeley.edu with questions or to be added to a program waitlist.

Upcoming Programs

FULL: Slow Scent® Perfumery Workshop
Tues, Mar 12 | 9:30 am – 12:30 pm

Integral Taiji and Qigong Class
Fri, Mar 15 | 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Apple Tree Grafting Workshop
Sun, March 17 | 10:00 am

Spring Basketry Workshop
Wed, Mar 20 | 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

FULL: Family Program
Natural Egg Dyeing

Sat, Mar 23 | 10 am OR 12:30 pm

Photo: ©️2024, Yoni Mayeri

iPhoneography with Yoni Mayeri
Wed, Apr 3 | 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Our Poetic Earth: A Poetry Workshop Series
Mon, Apr 8, 15, 22 | 11:00 am – 12:30 pm

Online Butterfly Talk
Thur, Apr 11 | 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Butterfly Walk in the Garden
Mon, Apr 15 | 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Accessibility: We welcome all visitors and are actively working on accessibility improvements to our historic facilities in the Strawberry Canyon. The grounds include areas of paved pathways, as well as unpaved paths that may be narrow, rocky, uneven, or steep. There are three accessible parking spots available in the main Garden parking lot. Trained service dogs are allowed to enter the Garden grounds.

If you require accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting, alternative media formats, etc.) to fully participate in any of our programming, please contact Marykaren Mrowka at least 7-10 days in advance of the event at 510-664-7606 (CA Relay Service) or gardenprograms@berkeley.edu.[/column]

View Programs by Theme

Art + Design

Art courses at the UC Botanical Garden are inspired by the natural world and our diverse plant collection. The Garden offers regular botanical illustration courses, as well as one day workshops in watercolor, brush painting, drawing and other art forms.

The Garden hosts indoor art exhibitions each year, including our annual Plants Illustrated exhibit of Botanical Art. We have also worked with many talented Bay Area artists to present provocative installations. Visit our Exhibitions page to see past and upcoming exhibitions.

Feb 17 · Winter Journaling Workshop with Catherine Watters

March 20· Spring Basketry Workshop with Judith Thomas

Families + Children

Picture of a couple of families in the Garden at a Family Program.

The Garden loves its budding botanists, and in addition to our beloved summer day camp, Green Stuff Camp, the Garden offers  monthly family programs uniquely designed for families to learn together.

Feb 11 · Family Program: Botanical Valentine’s Tea

March 23 · Family Program: Naturally Dyed Eggs

Horticulture

At the root of our programming, the Garden offers classes for the plant enthusiast, home gardener and botanist alike. Learn about the people and places that have shaped conservation and landscape design practices, and incorporate new practices in garden design into your landscape.

MONTHLY, First Saturday · Sick Plant Clinic 

March 10  · Tree Grafting Workshop

March 17  · Tree Grafting Workshop

Nature + Fauna

Mother and daughter looking at newts.

We offer programs year-round exploring the natural world, including many of our faunal cohabitants. At these seasonal offerings, come learn more about mushrooms, lichen, birds, newts and programs on bats and owls too.

Jan 30 · ZOOM: Butterflies of the East Bay with Sarab Seth

Feb 28 ·  Winter Bird Walk

April 15 ·  Save-The-Date: Butterfly Walk in the Garden

People + Plants

A rainbow collection of plant-dyed yarn.

Ethnobotany is an interdisciplinary field that studies the relationship between plants and people. The Garden is ever inspired by the many incredible uses of plants around the world and strives to preserve this knowledge with a series of hands-on programming and cutting edge lectures to teach these skills.

Feb 04 · Native California Foodways

Feb 10 · Natural Perfumery Workshop

March 20 · Spring Basketry Workshop with Judith Thomas

Research + Conservation

a photo of a smiling woman standing in front of a snow-covered landscape with a camera

Building on the world-class research that takes place at UC Berkeley, the Garden presents work of UC faculty and scientists, as well as local and international scholars and botanists.

Aug 27 · ARTIST TALK: Illuminating the Invisible: art+science and the preservation of biodiversity with Dornith Doherty 

Wellness + Music

Image of a musician in the Redwood Grove.

Be. Here. Now. In addition to our world-class collection used by researchers and scientists, landscape architects and naturalists, the Garden, put simply, is just a beautiful place to be. To aid in cultivating mindfulness and presence, the Garden offers a new complement of programs that are designed to develop practices that inspire mind/body experiences and encourage you to be present, look more closely, and appreciate the Garden’s effect in new ways.

Visit the Redwood Grove Concerts page for our Summer Concert Series.

See below for free Integral Taiji & Qigong workshop recording, or join us for an in person Taiji & Qigong Class!

MONTHLY · Integral Taiji & Qigong 

Take a Self-Guided Contemplative Tour of the Garden – click here to download the tour.

Visit our Calendar for more details, registration, and the most up-to-date program listings.

Calendar

Integral Taiji & Qigong

We invite you to participate in a virtual Integral Taiji & Qigong class with our resident instructor Elizabeth McAnally filmed in the Garden’s Redwood Grove. Elizabeth’s classes focus on the somatic, psycho-spiritual, ecological, and cosmological dimensions of taiji (tai chi). No prior experience necessary. Please consider making a donation to support our free programming

Donate

Past Featured Program Series

seeds and a magnifying glass.

Connecting Plants and People: An Ethnobotanical Conversation

The Garden hosted its first-ever Ethnobotany Symposium on October 11-12, 2019. Over the course of two days, the vast discipline of ethnobotany was explored through a variety of lectures, hands-on workshops, tours, and demonstrations. The Garden hosted both local and world-renowned speakers and presented examples of the undeniable, multi-faceted relationship between people and plants. View the list of speakers, agenda, and photos from the event here.

Image of the silhouette of instruments in front of the Redwood Grove.

Trees & Tones

The UC Botanical Garden hosted a four-part series, October through November 2018, that highlighted the relationship between music and plants as seen in instrument making and musical traditions throughout the world. Each lecture was accompanied by a concert or demonstration.

African Blackwood – Oboes · Brenda Schuman-Post, Sonic Forest
Resonating Woods – Classical & Folk Guitars · John F Mello, Peter Zisa, TARIMBA
Trees & Gourds – Sitars & Tamburas · J Scott Hackleman, Joanna Mack, Ferhan Quereshi
Pau-Brasil – Violin & Cello Bows · Zac Cande, Lisa Grodin

Artistic representation of a plant and plant parts.

Science of Cannabis Symposium

The UC Botanical Garden presented a month-long series of weekly symposia on the Science of Cannabis in February 2018. While the lines between the scientific and social issues surrounding Cannabis can be porous, the focus on this symposium will be to disseminate knowledge based upon scientific research. Watch recorded lectures here.

The Environmental Impact of Large Scale Cannabis Cultivation · Amanda Reiman, PhD
The Genetics of Cannabis Breeds · Mowgli Holmes, PhD
The Neuroscience of Cannabis · David Presti, PhD
The Ethnobotany of Cannabis · Thomas J. Carlson, MD/MS
Cannabis as Medicine · Donald I. Abrams, MD