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Mission

The Stafford Garden Club was founded in 2014 to help grow our community through gardening. 

Driven by a committed group of gardeners and community-minded residents, the club plants and maintains gardens in Stafford, sponsors a scarecrow contest in the fall, and decorates the town for the winter holidays. Donations support our club; we thank our community for its continued generous support of our efforts to make Stafford a beautiful and welcoming town.

Interested in joining the Stafford Garden Club?

We meet the third Tuesday of each month from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Stafford Library, 10 Levinthal Run. Members who cannot be present at a meeting can attend via Zoom.

Club members are active year-round, but are busiest from Memorial Day weekend when we plant summer annuals until early to mid-October when frost ends the gardening season. We water and maintain nearly two dozen gardens throughout Stafford during that time, with each member taking care of a garden if they can.

The annual Scarecrow Contest keeps us busy in October, and we gather downtown during the Trick-or-Treat on Main Street to oversee the contest voting. Around Thanksgiving, we meet in downtown Stafford to put up holiday decorations, and again in January to take them down.

The rest of the year is filled with group events that range from planting daffodil bulbs to planning our summer plantings. Club members are not required to participate in work parties, and are free to attend events as they are able.

If you are interested in joining the Stafford Garden Club, we suggest you attend a meeting to see what we're about. If you like what you see and would like to become a member, we'll give you an application and ask that you submit it along with $25 for annual dues.

Questions? Reach out to us here

History

The Stafford Garden Club began in 2014 with three members, all avid gardeners with a commitment to Stafford. By early 2022, membership surpassed 20 and the gardens the Club cares for have grown as well. Throughout those years the Club's focus remained the same: A desire to beautify Stafford and make the town a welcoming place for all.

Here's a look at some milestones in the Club's history, from its founding in 2014 to the present.

  • 〉October 2021

    Club members plant 1,500 more daffodil bulbs at Heritage Park, completing a yellow row of 3,000 spring flowers that brighten the main eastern entrance to downtown Stafford.

  • 〉November 2021

    The Club switches from batteries to solar power to light holiday lanterns hanging from lampposts on Main Street, further embracing the Club's efforts to be sustainable and green.

  • 〉October 2020

    The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut gives the Stafford Garden Club the Lucille Schavoir Award, presented annually to a Connecticut club for outstanding garden club work. The award recognized the Club for its 2019 Tricentennial gardening designs that adorned Stafford's Main Street and villages with colorful plantings during spring, summer and fall, followed by holiday decorations that enlivened WinterFest and Future Night festivities.

  • 〉June 2020

    A bee sculpture made by Eric Johnson of Shameless Iron Works in Stafford is added to the Spring Street River Garden, a linear garden alongside the Middle River in downtown Stafford.

  • 〉February 2020

    The Club joins the Pollinator Pathway movement, registering the Spring Street River Garden as an official Pollinator Pathway. Other Club-maintained gardens contain plants that attract pollinators, including the Haymarket Common gardens on Main Street.

  • 〉November 2020

    1,500 daffodil bulbs planted at Heritage Park alongside Route 190 and in Stafford Hollow across from the Stafford Department of Public Works.

  • 〉November 2019

    The Club commissions Peter Rossi to design a Welcome to Stafford sign that is placed at the commuter lot on Route 32, greeting people driving into downtown Stafford.

  • 〉July 2018

    The first flowers are planted in the Spring Street River Garden, marking the start of a project that Club members talked about for several years. Since 2018 the garden has expanded to fill the green swath of land between the Middle River and the Xtra Mart community parking lot.

  • 〉May 2018

    WFSB-TV broadcasts live from Haymarket Common as part of its 20 Towns in 20 Days series. Club members are interviewed, and the Club is awarded a $1,000 donation. The money goes to starting the Spring Street River Garden.

  • 〉March 2017

    The Town of Stafford names the Club Citizens of the Month.

  • 〉July 2017

    Dino Lusa, who runs Stafford Coffee with wife Corrina, donates one of his cement creations, a planter, to the Club. Club members and volunteers put it in Haymarket Common, where it has been filled with colorful flowers every growing season since then.

  • 〉September 2016

    Club members begin discussing planting a fruit tree trail for residents to pick fruit and berries as they ripen. Fruit tree trails eventually are established next to Haymarket Common and at the Stafford Library.

  • 〉March 2015

    Club members help plant a children's garden outside the Stafford Library on Levinthal Run.

  • 〉October 2015

    The first Club Scarecrow Contest showcases imaginative scarecrows constructed by Stafford businesses and organizations, and displayed in downtown Stafford. The contest quickly becomes a centerpiece of Stafford's Trick-or-Treat on Main Street Halloween celebration.

  • 〉October 2015

    Club members plant bulbs at the front entrance to Stafford Library, the first of many Club plantings and holiday decorations at the library.

  • 〉April 2015

    The Club adds Holt Memorial Fountain in front of Town Hall to its garden list. The fountain becomes a centerpiece for downtown beautification, brimming with spring flowers, summer annuals, and winter lights and greens.

  • 〉March 2015

    The Stafford Lions Club begins its support of the Club, which continues until today, by purchasing hanging baskets for Main Street that the Club will care for.

  • 〉November 2014

    An annual holiday decorating tradition begins as club members make wreaths to hang in downtown Stafford for the winter holidays.

  • 〉September 2014

    Club members decide to focus their initial efforts on Haymarket Common on Main Street and Stafford Library on Levinthal Run.

  • 〉Early 2014

    Description goThe Stafford Garden Club takes shape with a chance conversation. Terry Armelin and Kim Kwasknik, who know each other from TTM in Stafford, were talking about filling their spare time. “I always wanted to start a garden club,” Terry recalls. “So we said, 'Let's do it then,' and that's where the garden club comes from. We asked another gentleman that works at at TTM, Steve Zamsky.”

    And so the Club begins on April 11, 2014, with Terry as president, Kim as secretary and Steve as treasurer. By the end of the year Paul Davies, Mary Quinn and Donna Wright join the Club.es here

Current Members

Donna Wright
President

Paul Davies
Treasurer

Hugh Owen
Secretary

Jamie Paakkonen
Web Design & Maintenance

Terry Armelin
Founding Member

Kim Kwasnik
Founding Member

Steve Zamsky
Founding Member

Gülcan Akgül

Lisa Cauthon

Randy Cauthon

Ialeen Dunn

Scott Finch

Kasia Korwek

Lisa Ostrowski

Mary Quinn

Pat Rossi

Mary Smith

Denise Szozda