Who We Are
We are an all volunteer non-profit organization.
Founded in 1917 as the ‘Amateur Gardeners’ Club’, the object of the club was to promote interest in gardens, their design, management, culture, and to further a higher efficiency in gardening art. In 1923, the name was changed to the Connecticut Valley Garden Club (CVGC). We are a founding member of the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut in 1929 and have been a member of Garden Club of America since 1933. The purpose of the CVGC continues to be to promote knowledge, interest, and participation in Civic Projects, Conservation, Horticulture, Photography and Floral Design.
Our CVGC members have been raising money for our community since our first project in 1923 with Hartford’s North Street Settlement. In the early days, CVGC held flower marts with the Garden Club of Hartford and the Green Bay Tree Garden Club to raise funds for a wide range of charities while also building gardens at the Children’s Museum, the Mark Twain House, McCook Hospital, and Elizabeth Park. Plants and arrangements were donated to hospitals, “Widows, Veterans, and Old People’s Homes”, and for fundraising activities by museums and schools. We have remained committed to creating public spaces of botanical beauty. Our most recent big project was the Centennial project to create The Heritage Rose Garden in Elizabeth Park. Our club has funded projects for Auerfarm, Harriet Beecher Stowe House, Hill-Stead Museum, Riverfront Recapture, KNOX, Noah Webster House, Colt Park, and many other organizations in the greater Hartford region. Currently, we are pleased to be supporting the beautification of the City of Hartford‘s fire houses with plantings, planters, and seating for participating Engine Companies.
CVGC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ctvalleygardenclub
- 1923-1924: Plantings at North Street Settlement
- 1937: Planted perennial garden at the Children’s Museum
- 1940: Created entrance to Rock Garden at Elizabeth Park
- 1941-1945: Planted bulbs and shrubs at Windsor Locks Air Base
- 1954-1958: Planted gardens at McCook Hospital
- 1959-1960: Planted gardens at Mark Twain Memorial
- 1964-1965: Planted gardens at Sherwood Forest Park
- 1968-1973: Beautification of Charter Oak Housing Development
- 1975: Tower Avenue Community Garden project
- 1976-1983: Old State House Restoration Project
- 1983: Playground plantings for the Institute of Living and continuing support for Knox Park Foundation’s Community Gardens
- 1984-1989: Renovation and Restoration of the Sunken Garden at the Hill-Stead with the Garden Club of Hartford
- 1992-1995: Renovation of the Sunrise Overlook at Elizabeth Park
- 1996-1998: Support for the Bushnell Park Children’s Play and Learning Environmental Facility
- 2002: Creation of Topiary Garden at the Children’s Hospital
- 2007-2017: Development of the Heritage Rose Garden at Elizabeth Park
- 2017-2018: Patio Project at Noah Webster & West Hartford Historical Society
- 2018: Landscape Restoration at Harriet Beecher Stowe House
- 2019: Creation the Auerfarm’s Nourishing Garden
- 2021: Park Challenge with Sustainable CT
- 2022 and Ongoing: The Firehouse Project