Our Projects - What We Do

1) The Garden for the Blind and Physically Handicapped

The official opening for the Garden-for-the-Blind is celebrated on the first Sunday of May.  It is for the enjoyment of the general public and is open to everyone.  All walkways are flush with the street and parking areas so that those with ambulatory handicaps may enter and enjoy the garden without the need to cope with any barriers such as gates or steps.   The garden can easily be viewed from the parking area also.   

The physical structure of the Wall of the Senses is a three foot high planter composed of decorator block with an inside diameter of eighteen feet.  This format enables visually impaired persons to experience a variety of Braille labeled plant species. 

The garden includes a Bird and Butterfly Garden, Spring Gardens, Perennial Garden, Primrose Path, Winter Garden, Fragrant Garden, Rose Hedge, and the Wall of the Senses 

We work in the garden weekly, March through November. “Green Thumbers” are generally responsible for maintaining a specific part of the garden, although most times we often work as a group where needed. 

 Green Thumbers & the Gardens We Care For

Garden Chairmen……………………….….…..Angie Heuer & Jean Gall Garden Irrigation Liaisons……….......Jackie Coester & Angie Heuer
Spring Garden 1………..………………....………….……...  Joan Zsilavetz Spring Garden 2....…………….……………………….…Saundra Saflarske
Primrose Path….........……………………….…………………….….Jean Gall
Rose Hedge........…………………….…………..…………….…Kathy Howell Winter Garden……………...…………...............................Angie Heuer
Bird Garden………..…….…..………………………….….........Rita Fletcher
Butterfly Garden..……….........…….Belinda Kerchner & Youth Group
Perennial Garden……Dianne Petersen; Joan Zeller; Pam Gamberale
Wall of Senses..................................Jackie Coester & Carole Matyi
Fragrant Garden.....…………………………....………………...Kim Shibata

Green Thumbers At-Large:  Avenel Middle School Eco Club; Ann Handerhan and children, Pat Osborne, Linda Henry, Carol LaRouche and Pat Schmitt

2) Provide arrangements from members’ gardens to display at monthly meeting.

3) Award a $200 scholarship to a senior student in one of Woodbridge Township’s three high schools who pursues a career in the horticultural or environmental fields

4) Provide holiday gifts for female veterans at the Menlo Park Veteran’s Home.

5) Maintain Information Table the Iselin Branch Library. 

6) Expand and support our Youth Garden Club with their various projects including their Victory Garden at Parker Press, and their planting of other public properties.

7)  Assist with the cleanup of Sewaren Library Butterfly Garden. 

8) Provide workshops and presentations on topics of interest to our members. 

9) Collect food items monthly for local food banks. 

10) Collect needed items for servicemen and woman stationed overseas. 

11) Collect items to benefit the Woodbridge Township Animal Shelter. 

12) Participate in National Public Lands Day, September 25.

13) Increase membership by continuing the Random Acts of Beauty Project. 

14) Plant daffodils throughout Woodbridge Township this fall with our Youth Garden Club Daffodil Blooms GCNJ Project.

 15) Partner with Woodbridge Township and its Youth Group Sustainability Project by providing perennials for planting in place of grass.  

16) Plant and deliver May Baskets for our Blue Star Families and our house-bound members.   

17) Continue to develop our Breast Cancer Awareness pink section of the Garden for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.   

18) Expand our “Program Share Project” with neighboring garden clubs.   

19) Assist local Girl Scouts in obtaining their National Garden Clubs Native Plants Patch by offering the program "Wildflowers: New Jersey Natives" in April. 

20) Collect cancelled stamps for the Matthew Jago School for their “Seeing Eye Dog Program.” 

21) Collect soda pop tabs for Ronald McDonald House.   

22)  Provide assistance for local youth groups in beautifying our Township. 

   Monarch Watch

Tagging Butterflies with the Woodbridge Garden Club
by Sandra VanOrden: 09/22/02

Some of the ladies the Woodbridge Garden Club spent a few hours catching and tagging Monarch butterflies in the garden of club member Jean Gall on Sunday, September 22, 2002

Jean has a lovely garden dappled with shade and abundant with buttery bushes, crepe myrtle trees, and flowering plants. The sweet fragrance of the flowers and the sound of the water from the koi pond attracted many monarchs to the garden.	A few houses away from the Gall's garden, is the Sewaren Library Butterfly Garden. Many of the garden members took the opportunity to visit and net the monarchs there as well.
It was a perfect day for tagging.	With little practice, we were all able to net a butterfly but, sometimes it took two of us to get them out of the net. Their little feet would cling to the net and they wouldn't let go!
	Once out of the net, we hold them gently with their wings flat together.
Then we would look to see if they were male or female by gently opening their wings. The male has two black spots on their lower wings that the female does not possess.	Each butterfly was given an identification number, their information was recorded on a master list, and a small sticker the size of a hole punch was softly pressed onto the discal cell of the lower wing.
The butterfly was then released.	Only one of the butterflies we cought that day had been previously tagged with a yellow sticker. We recorded the information and sent it on its way. Another butterfly netted had a broken wing and was pretty battered looking. We put him into a net cage with plenty of flower heads and called Jim Kupcho so that he could possably repair the wing.