Since last March, the Village Gardeners have been meeting every Tuesday morning. They move up and down Big Basin Way planting and maintaining the flowers in tree wells and flower boxes.

People around town have been taking notice.

"It's a great community effort," Bella Saratoga owner Bill Cooper said. "They're adding a little buzz to our street."

Jill Hunter, a Saratoga planning commissioner and chairwoman of the Saratoga Village Development Council, is the founder of the Village Gardeners. "I kept hearing how unattractive the Village was," she said. She knew something about gardening and set out to add a little color downtown.

"I've never had problems getting volunteers to help me," Hunter said. "People want to help their community."

Hunter studied landscape architecture at UCLA before she moved to Saratoga with her husband in 1981. Her green thumb has been leaving its mark across the city ever since. She has planted flowers and trees at local schools. As a member of the planning commission, she has taken a keen interest in city issues involving trees.

The Village Gardeners has grown to 25 people since its founding. Members range in age from their 20s on up. One member is a recent arrival from England, and two men have joined. John Marian, a chiropractor, is known to the group as Dr. John. John Towler, who knows his gardening, is called "John the Gardener."

"The men usually get tasked with doing the heavy work," volunteer Lauren Cook said.

For Cook, gardening was an interest but her only experience was gardening at home. When she saw a flier for the Village Gardeners posted at Curves For Women last March, she decided to give Hunter a call. Now Cook is the group's treasurer.

"It started out with a small group of people just trying to plant a few flowers here and there but now it's kind of snowballed," Cook said. "We've all become friends. It's turned into a pretty focused group. Ironically, we all have gardeners to help us with our own gardens at home."

The Village Gardeners raised $1,150 at a garage sale at Laurel Perusa's home in August. The money is being used to purchase compost and plants. Additional money has been raised through donations.

"We're trying to make the Village a little more colorful and pleasing," Cook said.

The city of Saratoga has taken an interest. "I think they're doing a great job," Mayor Kathleen King said. "What they've done is added a little more civic pride to the city. Hopefully they're shopping down there, too."

Hunter said that the interest and success the Village Gardeners has achieved is leading to other things. The group has set its sites on Blaney Plaza, where it plans to remove old shrubs and put in bulbs and annuals. Yamagami's Nursery is donating to that effort, Hunter said.

In January, the group is sponsoring a speaker from the Saratoga Tree Service to give a talk about maintaining old oaks on local properties. And the formation of a Heritage Tree Society is in the works, Hunter explained. Twenty-five of Saratoga's most beautiful trees will be selected and celebrated with local children on Arbor Day.

"We are going to do many things in the future," Hunter said. "We're on a roll."

For more information about the Saratoga Village Gardeners, contact Jill Hunter at 408.741.1213.