Northern Illinois Hosta Society
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Volunteer Opportunities for NIHS Members


No matter what your age or interests, your skills or schedule, you can help the NIHS in its valuable work. Volunteering for the NIHS is a great way to expand your knowledge of plants, give back to your community, meet new people, and share your love of Hostas and companion shade plants with other like minded people. Within the NIHS there are many activities for which volunteers can help and continue to build the success of our society.  Please consider offering your volunteer assistance in one of the following:
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Garden Walk Table Greeters
Please volunteer as a docent at one of our summer garden walks for a couple of hours.  You will greet visitors at our NIHS table and have them sign the Sign-in sheet for that particular garden and encourage them to fill out a sticker name tag if they forgot their NIHS name tag. Don't forget to wear your NIHS name tag.
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P.S. 
Do you have a garden  or know of a private garden that you think members would be interested in visiting? Please let our Director at Large-Garden Walks know at one of our Symposiums or reach out to him/her through our Contact Us page on our website if you have a recommendation.​
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Annual Bus Trip  
Do you have gardens, nurseries, botanical gardens, public gardens you would like us to consider for our annual day trips, send your suggestions to our Vice President through our Contact Us page on our Navigation bar for consideration. Don't forget to wear your NIHS name tag to these events.
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Chicago Botanical Garden-Leaf Show
May 30, 2025 (set up) and May 31  and June 1, 2025  (Leaf Show and tear down)
Please consider lending a hand during the days and times that NIHS will be at the show.  Volunteers are needed to man the booth tallying Favorite Leaf votes, pass out Favorite Leaf Voting forms, and mingle with the visitors (approximately 2-3 hour shifts) during the show and to answer visitors' questions about hostas.

​We will provide a NIHS
Membership Table to recruit new members for our organization. It will be manned by two people. A QR code will be available for new members to scan the QR code and join our organization and pay their dues using Square.

​We have a prepared slide show presentation that will be on display sharing the joys of NIHS membership on a loop. We also have a member speaker that talks around 11:00 a.m. with a slide show presentation. In addition to the slide show presentation, we will provide some informative handouts, provide some demonstrations and provide time for asking and answering questions on Saturday and Sunday.

Our first shifts begin on Friday morning for accepting display leaves and continues with  set up. On Saturday our shifts begin in the morning at 10:00 a.m. however, we are asking our volunteers to get the CBG by 9:00 a.m. and end at 4:00 p.m..  Then on Sunday, our shifts begin in the morning and continue- until clean up. 
Here are the specific work shifts we need covered:

May 30-8:30 a.m. until 12 noon (set up)
May 31-9:00 a.m Arrive for your shift and public arrives at 10:00 a.m. --1:00 p.m./1:00-4:00 p.m.  
June 1-9:30 a.m. -1 p.m./1:00 -5:00 p.m. includes tear down


If you are interested in volunteering, please contact our CBG Leaf Show Chair using our Contact Us on our website navigation bar or sign up at our Winter and Spring Symposium Volunteers Needed table.  We will need a couple of  volunteers to man the Membership Table to answer questions and take Membership applications or have potential membership to use the QR code to signup on line and pay for their membership. Don't forget to wear your NIHS name tag to the symposium.  Volunteer Charts will be placed on the wall for you to sign-up for a time slot.
Cantigny Volunteer Work Days
Volunteers return to Cantigny in the spring and continue through October.

NIHS has shared responsibility with Cantigny Golf & Park to maintain our beautiful American Hosta Society (AHS) garden. Currently, there are only 26 AHS gardens in the United States.

​No matter what your age or interests, your skills or schedule, you can help the NIHS in its valuable work. Volunteering for the NIHS is a great way to expand your knowledge of plants, give back to your community, meet new people, and share your love of hostas and companion shade plants with others.

​The work sessions include general garden clean-up, weeding and requires about a two-three hour commitment of time Wednesday morning  (usually  9:00-12 noon.)  twice a month. If you are interested in volunteering your time, please contact Stevie Meginness, President on our NIHS navigation bar for further information and consideration. Don't forget to wear your NIHS name tag.
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NIHS Annual Bus Trip 
June 29, 2025 Fox Valley River, Wisconsin

​We usually devote a full day to touring gardens, private and public and provide opportunities to shop for hostas and companion plants.
All registrants for the Bus tour will be provided an agenda via email.  We will go on our bus trip regardless of the weather, so we encourage our members to bring rain gear if the weather looks unfavorable.  Don't forget to wear your NIHS name tag.
You will be able to register and pay for your day trip using our secure online server which will open on March 17, 2025 at 8 a.m. sharp. The agenda will be posted in our Award winning NIHS  newsletter that our members will receive via email in March. You will also be able to find the agenda under our Member's Only password protected section on our website.


NIHS Members, for further information, please check out the March 2025 NIHS newsletter edition that will be sent to your NIHS member email on March 10th.
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Annual Auction
Save the Date: TBD
This is our only fundraiser for the year. We will be looking for volunteers to assist us with the auction and clean up.
Volunteers are needed to: 
  • Wash the leaves of the hostas if they need to have that done or wipe down their pots.
  • Check their labels for the correct name or fill out a label if it is missing a name
  • Sort the hostas onto the appropriate category tables
  • One or two volunteers to monitor tables: Live Auction Tables, Silent Auction Tables, Fixed Price Table, and NIHS Raffle Table. 
  • Register bidders and take information and give them a number
  • Assist our Treasurer at the payment table
  • Assist winning bidders to their cars with their treasures
  • ​Assist our Hospitality Chair with setting out food and cleaning up tables for our picnic.
  • Clean up the area in the pavilion after the auction is over
  • Help our members carry their items brought to the auction to assist in its success
We will have posters on the walls at our Summer Symposium to  sign up for work slots to make sure we have all positions covered in order to have a successful and smooth transition throughout the afternoon.  Thank you for volunteering.
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​Gardening has a way of Bringing people together. Our NIHS members experience the  power of  "Friendship" thRoughout our Hosta SOCIETY'S CALENDAR OF events!

Thank you for browsing our website. Come join us If you are not already a member. 

​Click Here


  • Home
  • About Us
    • Member Vendors/Advertisers
    • Want to advertise in NIHS?
    • Gallery >
      • 2015
      • 2016
      • 2017
      • 2019
      • 2020
      • 2021
      • 2024
    • 2018
    • AHS Display Gardens
    • Cantigny AHS Garden >
      • Map of AHS Garden Bed in Cantigny Park
      • Hosta List in Cantigny
      • Cantigny Photos
    • Volunteers
  • NIHS Calendar
    • Learning Events You MIght Be Interested in
    • Winter Symposium
    • Previous Sponsor Plant Sales
    • 2024 Garden Walks
    • Hosta Book References
  • Membership
    • Buy Membership online to Join
    • Buy Membership online-Renewals
    • Buy Gift Membership
    • Buy Membership using check
    • AHS/MRHS Memberships
  • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Gardening Resources
    • Garden Tool Maintenance Video
    • Taking Care of Your Garden >
      • Winter Tips
      • Spring Tips
      • Fall Tips
    • Garden Certifications
    • Educational Videos
    • Virtual Garden Tours
    • Hybridizing Information
    • Hosta/Plant Advice!
    • Hosta Societies in U.S.
    • Companion Plant Societies in U.S.
  • Hosta of the Year
  • Contact NIHS
    • I Have a Question/Thought
    • Update My Membership Info
    • How Did You FInd Out About Us?
  • Member's Only
    • Active Member's Contact List
    • 2025 Annual Bus Trip
    • 2025 Sponsor Plant Sale
    • 2025 Garden Walks
    • NIHS Board/Past Presidents