Enhancing the Landscape at Hartford, CT. Firehouses is a Way to Thank Hard-working Firefighters.
GCA Partners for Plants Grant Help Beautify Local Fire Stations
December 10, 2025
By: Barbara Kiefer
In 2025, the GCA awarded the Connecticut Valley Garden Club (CVGC) a Partners for Plants grant to improve and update the landscape around some of the historic firehouses in Hartford, CT. CVGC first collaborated with their local fire stations in 2022, when Fire Captain Ivan Villaobos of Engine Co.7 reached out to CVGC requesting help to improve the landscaping around his firehouse in the city’s North End. The club responded with an offer to purchase and install plants, benches, and commercial grade planters for the firehouse with one caveat: the firefighters would have to maintain the completed beautification work on eight firehouses.
A member of CVGC’s Civic Relations Committee, said the partnership combines what public and private entities accomplish when they collaborate. “No city has enough money to do everything needed for beautification,” she said. “So that’s where the partnership with a garden club can really help.”
Club members see the work as a gift of appreciation for the firefighters, who daily put their lives on the line. “These are the guys running in our houses when we are running out…,” commented a member.
Firefighter Michael Cedenó said that he enjoyed the day working with CVGC volunteers. “It’s something different. A different pace…[We] get a little green thumb and spruce up the firehouse, [It would] be nice to bring some flowers and bring some green over here. A real change.,” Cedenó said.
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