Jun 6, 2014

Nature Hills Nursery Recognizes Top Community GardensSource: Nature Hills Nursery

Three community gardens from across the U.S. have won 2014 Nature Hills Nursery Green America Awards. The winning gardens were determined by votes on the Nature Hills Nursery Facebook page.

The first prize winner, who receives $1,500 in plants from Nature Hills Nursery, is El Paso Academy in El Paso, Texas. This charter high school is creating a 1.5-acre garden that will provide hands-on learning while providing food for the needy. The plants from Nature Hills Nursery will be used in the construction of a 13,000-square-foot community garden designed in the shape of a labyrinth. This garden will utilize passive rainwater harvesting techniques to provide meditative space as well as fresh produce that will be available to the community at large.

The second place award of $750 in plants went to Bergen County Audubon Society in Paramus, N.J., which has transformed a tangled mess of invasive plants into a butterfly habitat garden. With the help of many volunteers and plants from Nature Hills Nursery, the garden area will be expanded to restore more habitat area for pollinators and other wildlife.

Honored with the Judges’ Award ($250 in plants) was Opportunities Unlimited of Niagara in Niagara Falls, N.Y. The organization will use fruit trees and berry bushes from Nature Hills Nursery to create a new garden located near a public nature trail that runs behind the Niagara Floral Center and Greenhouse.

For more information, go to www.naturehills.com.