The Civic Garden Center (CGC) is a nonprofit horticultural resource whose mission is building community through gardening, education and environmental stewardship. Founded in 1942 during the Victory Gardens movement, we are the only organization of our kind in the Greater Cincinnati region. Our administrative office building is located at 2715 Reading Road on the former estate of Cornelius J. Hauck. Here we host classes, events, volunteer workdays, the Green Learning Station and an outdoor compost classroom. Our main building and grounds are available for event and meeting rental.

Through our Youth Education and Urban Agriculture programs, we support the development and continued success of over 60 community and children’s gardens throughout the city. Our outreach efforts include the Community Gardens, Youth Education and Treeforestation programs. We offer these programs at no cost to participants, thanks to the generosity of our donors, private and government grants and corporate sponsorships. We also strive to keep our public-facing classes low or no cost so that they are accessible to as many people as possible.

Our largest fundraising event, The Plant Sale, is held annually the first weekend in May. In 2021, we introduced a Fall Native Plant Sale in September, which is growing into a multi-organization festival. We rely on the support of hundreds of dedicated volunteers to make these sales a success.

In addition to our plant sales, we offer many opportunities to volunteer both on- and off-site, maintaining our grounds, tending community gardens, restoring local forests sites and helping run our administrative offices. Volunteers may attend many of our classes at a reduced cost or for free.

From the earliest classes in Victory Gardening to our most recent forays into the world of native plants and ecology, the Civic Garden Center has become the place to learn about gardening in the tri-state area.