Hudson Garden Club

Community Projects

Civic Gardens

Hudson Garden Club plants and maintains public gardens in several places in Hudson: the Flagpole Garden on the main green, the Community Garden at the corner of Main Street and Ravenna Street, and the Rain Garden on Clinton Street. The club also plants the old horse troughs at the historic clocktower. The group of active club members who do the work under the direction of the Civic Chair call themselves The Bottoms Up Gang (The BUGs). The BUGs have fun and learn about gardening while beautifying the community. New members are always welcome!

May Baskets

Making and delivering May Baskets has been a tradition of our club for a long time. Each year the design is different. Sometimes they are just simple flower arrangements and there isn't even a basket! However, the sentiment is always the same - a thoughtful remembrance on May 1st to people and organizations important to our club.

Arbor Day

To celebrate Arbor Day, we give a robust tree seedling to every fourth grader in the Hudson Schools. This has been a club tradition for many years. The club's Youth Committee Chair presents a program on trees and tree planting for the classes. Then, each student receives an instruction sheet and the gift of a young tree to plant at home. However, before all that happens, the hundreds of young trees must be individually packaged. Each tree's roots are dipped in a protective gel and then wrapped in plastic for the ride to home from school. Having many cheerful volunteers makes this rewarding project go quickly.

Traffic Circle Garden

The traffic circle garden at the intersection of Aurora Street and Hudson Street is funded by Garden Club. The club provides the monies to purchase the plants via a grant and they are installed and maintained by volunteers. If you are interested in doing a beautification project on public property, see our Grants page for more information on how to get funding.

Daffodil Planting

As one of the club’s Youth projects, we started planting daffodils with the children attending Eastwoods School in 2005. Employees of Hudson Schools prepare the planting area with a trencher. We add bulb fertilizer and make sure the soil is loose so the students can easily plant the bulbs. A different area at the front of the school was planted each year resulting in the entire front of the building being completed in the fall of 2010. Over 2000 bulbs have been purchased by our club and planted by the children here. The daffodil planting program was extended to Hudson High School in the fall of 2011. Our club plans to eventually have these cheery flowers at every school. Drive by Eastwoods School and Hudson High in the spring to see this great community project in bloom.

The Green Thumb Club and Harvest Fair

Every February, our club does a presentation to all second graders in the Hudson Public Schools. The students have already done a unit on soil with their teachers.  We cover the basics of seeds, how to plant them and the importance of soil and water, then encourage them to grow some seeds during the summer. The teachers are given order forms for seed packets which the club provides for a minimal fee.

In early September, the students bring what they have grown to the Harvest Fair. Club members are on hand to award each child a Green Thumb Club certificate for participating and a ribbon for each entry. There are three categories: Vegetables & Herbs, Flowers and Crazy Critters. Crazy Critters are made from items grown in their garden and are the favorite! All the entries are organized on tables at the school entrance and left on display so everyone can see them. It's a great way to get kids growing!

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