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What is the Redding Garden Club?
The Redding Garden Club is a community gardening organization founded in 1964, based in Redding and open to gardeners of all interests and skill levels. Its founding aims were to build knowledge of horticulture, support the town's conservation work, protect native trees, birds and wildflowers, and encourage the artistic use of plant material. According to Redding Garden Club, it has won state and national awards for conservation, horticulture and floral design, and describes itself as a community leader in pollinator, native and invasive plant education.
What members actually do
The club's activities fall into a few practical categories:
- Civic gardening: members plant and maintain container and public roadside gardens, with no experience required, across more than 15 public garden sites.
- Learning: monthly meetings include a light lunch and a guest speaker on gardening, conservation, landscape and flower design; there are also field trips, workshops and design programs.
- Community programs: conservation and education outreach, youth activities, scholarships, a spring plant sale, a garden tour with luncheon and boutique, and seasonal events such as Pumpkins on the Green.
- Social connection: a Facebook group with 600+ members where people ask questions and share photos.
Who it suits
This is a good fit for someone who wants hands-on civic gardening with a group rather than solo gardening at home, or who wants structured learning from speakers without enrolling in a course. It also suits people new to gardening, since the club explicitly welcomes beginners for planting work. Someone seeking a purely social club or a professional certification program would find the emphasis different.
Practical consideration
Meetings run monthly from September through May, skipping November and December, so the calendar is seasonal rather than year-round. Guests are welcome at meetings, which makes attending one the lowest-commitment way to judge fit before joining. Check the site's Meetings & Events page for the current schedule, then visit a single meeting to see whether the speaker topics and members match your interests.
How do I join the Redding Garden Club and what does membership cost?
Membership is arranged through the club's own Membership page, which appears in the site navigation. The page does not state a dues amount, so cost has to be confirmed directly with the club rather than assumed. The site does say guests are always welcome at monthly meetings, which gives you a low-commitment way to try it first.
What the site tells you
- Meetings run monthly from September through May, skipping November and December, with a light lunch and a guest speaker.
- Members are described as gardeners of all interests and skill levels.
- Membership activities include helping plant and maintain container and public roadside gardens (no experience necessary), hearing expert speakers on gardening, conservation, landscape and floral design, field trips, floral design programs, youth and community activities, and workshops.
- The club maintains over 15 public garden sites, runs an annual spring plant sale, offers conservation and education programs, holds youth programs, and awards scholarships.
- A Facebook group with 600+ community members is promoted for questions, photos and shared experiences.
A practical route in
- Check the Meetings & Events page for the next monthly meeting and attend as a guest.
- Before or after that meeting, use the Membership page or the Contact page to ask about current dues, the membership year, and whether fees differ for new or renewing members.
- If cost is the deciding factor, ask whether dues cover the monthly lunch and speaker program or are charged separately, and whether volunteer-only participation (for example, the public garden sites) is open without full membership.
For comparison, other garden clubs in the region may publish dues openly; the Redding club's own pages are the authority on its fees. The broader state organization, The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut, is a useful reference for how Connecticut clubs typically structure membership, but confirm Redding's terms with the club itself.
What volunteer opportunities are available for members who want to work in public gardens?
Members can help plant and maintain the club's container gardens and public roadside gardens, with no prior experience required. The club also reports maintaining more than 15 public garden sites, so there is room for both one-off planting help and ongoing upkeep. Other hands-on options listed include conservation and education programs and youth programs; the annual spring plant sale, garden tour, and community events are additional ways members contribute.
Matching yourself to the work
- Prefer regular outdoor gardening: ask about adopting or helping at one of the container or roadside sites, which suits a steady weekly or seasonal commitment.
- Want occasional, event-based volunteering: the plant sale and garden tour need setup, plant handling, and visitor help rather than year-round care.
- Enjoy teaching more than digging: conservation, education, and youth programs fit members who like talking to the public about pollinators, native plants, and invasive species.
- New to gardening: start with a supervised group workday before taking responsibility for a site.
Next step
Use the Membership and Volunteer forms on Redding Garden Club to say which public garden or activity interests you and what time you can offer. Meetings run monthly from September through May (skipping November and December) with a light lunch and guest speaker, and guests are welcome—attending one is a low-pressure way to meet the people who coordinate the garden sites before committing.
When and where are the monthly meetings held, and can non-members attend as guests?
The monthly meetings run from September through May, with no meetings in November and December. Each meeting includes a light lunch and a guest speaker, and guests are always welcome—so non-members can attend without joining first.
The site does not state the meeting location or the day and start time on the pages summarized here; check the club's Meetings & Events page for the current venue and schedule before planning to attend: Redding Garden Club.
Practical next step: if you are considering membership, attend one fall meeting as a guest to sample the speaker lineup and the group's interests before committing. The club describes itself as welcoming gardeners of all interests and skill levels, and members can join planting and maintenance work on container and public roadside gardens with no prior experience required.
How can I apply for the Redding Garden Club scholarship?
The Redding Garden Club's site lists a Scholarship page but does not publish the application steps, deadlines or eligibility rules on its home page. So the application route is not something the site itself spells out here; the practical path is to go to Redding Garden Club and open the Scholarship page, then follow the contact or volunteer forms linked there to ask the club directly.
What the site does confirm
- The club runs a scholarship as one of its regular community activities, alongside youth programs and field trips.
- The club also offers volunteer forms and a contact page, which are the natural channels for asking about application requirements.
- The club describes itself as open to "gardeners of all interests and skill levels," which suggests a community-minded organisation rather than a strictly professional one.
A useful next step
Before writing, prepare three things: your connection to Redding or to gardening (school, youth program, volunteer work), the level of study or training the scholarship would support, and a short statement of what you would do with it. Then ask the club through its contact form whether the scholarship is open to applicants like you and what materials they need. If the club points you to a school counsellor or a partner organisation, follow that lead rather than assuming the club administers everything itself.
What happens at the annual plant sale and how can I participate?
The plant sale is the club's annual spring event, but the available club information doesn't describe its format, dates, location, or whether advance ordering is offered. What's clear is that it's one of the club's main community activities, alongside maintaining more than 15 public garden sites, conservation and education programs, youth programs, and scholarships. For a gardener, the practical appeal is buying plants while supporting a local group whose stated focus includes pollinator, native, and invasive plant education.
How to participate
- Check the club's own pages first. The site lists the plant sale under "What We Do" and keeps a separate "Upcoming Events" section; that's where event-specific details would appear. Start at Redding Garden Club.
- Ask in the club's Facebook group. The club points members and visitors to a group of 600+ community members for questions, photos, and shared experiences — a sensible place to ask about sale timing, plant lists, or volunteer needs.
- Consider joining. Membership is open to "gardeners of all interests and skill levels," and members help plant and maintain container and roadside gardens with no experience required. Members may also get earlier word on sale preparations and volunteer slots.
- Attend a monthly meeting. Meetings run September through May (except November and December) with a light lunch and guest speaker, and guests are welcome — a low-pressure way to ask about the sale in person.
As a next step, if you're mainly interested in native or pollinator plants, ask the club directly which species the sale typically features before making the trip; the site emphasizes that education focus but doesn't publish a plant list.
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