COMMUNITY
Arboretum & Gardens at Green Hill Park
The unique and tranquil Arboretum & Gardens within Worcester's largest park was created through a collaborative effort of the Worcester Garden Club and the City of Worcester. Inspired by the devastation caused by the Asian longhorned beetle, the arboretum highlights the importance of incorporating species diversity in landscape design. These living examples will help visitors choose the right tree for the right place. Signs provide information about each tree, the Asian longhorned beetle, and about how to make wise choices in creating your own inviting landscape. It's the perfect place to visit, whether to learn about and enjoy the many varieties of trees, to have a picnic, or just to take a leisurely walk.
The Worcester Garden Club maintains the Arboretum & Gardens at Green Hill Park. We all extend our appreciation to Penny Kazyck for her stewardship of the project. In addition, we thank all the volunteers who helped with the digging, weeding and planting!
Read about the history of the Arboretum & Gardens at Green Hill Park.
Click here to print out a map and start planning your visit.
Grant Support
for Civic Projects
As part of our mission, the Worcester Garden Club supports and promotes civic plantings, conservation, horticulture, gardening, and education through awards to the community. In 2022-2023, six organizations were each granted funds to help achieve their goals and improve horticulture and conservation in Worcester County.
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Mass Audubon at Broad Meadow Brook - Funds to purchase native plants, soil amendments and interpretive materials for Broad Meadow Brook sanctuary. BMB plans to replace non-native plants in the butterfly garden to improve the habitat benefits and ecology. Educational materials such as signage and plant lists will educate visitors of the significance of native plants in the landscape for pollinators and as habitat for caterpillar food plants.
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Tower Hill Botanic Garden/ Worcester County Horticultural Society - Trees, bulb, and plants in weather-resistant planters placed in the Main South neighborhood. The Planters for People Project aims to build on last summer’s pilot project to bring trees to areas with limited space for street trees by partnering with United Way volunteer gardeners and Main South business owners who will care for the planters installed in front of their storefronts.
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Living in Freedom Together (LIFT) - Raised beds, plants, soil, tools, and mulch to create vegetable and flower beds at the HARBOR shelter. Shelter residents and staff plan to implement the GROW (garden/farm-to-table) program to provide food and flowers and reap the therapeutic benefits of horticulture and working in nature. Shelter residents, survivors of the sex trade and domestic violence, will build and care for the new garden space and planned commemorative trees on the property.
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Worcester Green Corps - Plants and supplies to create pollinator gardens on traffic islands (Mill Street, Belmont Street, and Hamilton Street, and Harding Street) through the “Adopt-an-Island” program. Worcester Green Corps employees and volunteers will plant twelve species of native plants, and water and maintain the islands.
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Indian Lake Community Association - Educational community board and library boxes for the Community Teaching Garden Literacy Project on recovered land on West Boylston Drive. Worcester Public Schools students experience growing food, study land and water use, food insecurity and climate change at the laboratory garden of twenty raised beds. Library boxes “will be filled with children and adult books following the curriculum of the garden.”
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Worcester Vet Center - Bulb planting tools, shovels, gardening cart and bulbs. Veterans and their mental health counselors will gather and plant bulbs at memorials and parks in Worcester and Worcester County. This new program aims to bring clients (veterans) together outside for socialization and camaraderie and to enjoy the therapeutic benefits of gardening.
Click here to read our Purposes and Application Guidelines. If you believe you are a good candidate, you may download and complete our grant application.