Jun 18, 2020

AAS Announces Contestants in Annual Landscape Design Challenge

With nine years of exciting and interesting design competitions under its belt, All-America Selections has announced the contestants in the 2020 Landscape Design Challenge. This year, 24 gardens will be vying for the title of best of the best in their size category based on average number of annual visitors.

The Landscape Design Challenge was introduced in 2012 as a way for the more than 180 AAS Display Gardens to compete for the best themed design using AAS Winners, both past and present. The 2020 competition has been adapted for this year due to the many restrictions in place regarding opening dates, times, and number of events and visitors allowed.

The 2020 theme is “Make An Entrance.”

Gardens have been planning and planting over the past several months and certainly have gardens worthy of your visit, as soon as they are able to open to the public.

The following gardens have submitted their intent to participate and encourage visitors to stop by and see their designs. When visiting, please inquire about the location of the AAS Garden.

Later this year, these gardens will submit contest photos and overall description of their design and an explanation of how they achieved that design.

The rules for the contest are fairly simple:

1. A minimum of 50% of the total landscaped area must be AAS Winners and be labeled as such.
2. Submit a written statement that describes the location of the site and the design features.
3. Submit six photographs of the design.
4. Contest is for current year plantings only.

The participating gardens, in each of the three categories are:

Category I: fewer than 10,000 visitors per year

1. Claytor Nature Center Research & Demonstration Garden, Bedford County, Virginia
2. Community Arboretum at Virginia Western, Roanoke, Virginia
3. Cornell Cooperative Extension Oneida Co. Parker F. Scripture Botanical Gardens, Oriskany, New York
4. Gardenview Horticultural Park, Strongsville, Ohio
5. Master Gardener Association of Tippecanoe County Display Gardens, Lafayette, Indiana
6. Oak Hill and the Martha Berry Museum, Rome, Georgia
7. River Valley Extension District Master Gardeners, Belleville, Kansas
8. Southwest Indiana Master Gardener Demonstration Gardens, Evansville, Indiana
9. Virginia Tech Hampton Roads AREC, Virginia Beach, Virginia
10. Willow Oaks, Richmond, Virginia
11. William Dam Seeds Ltd, in Dundas, Ontario

Category II: 10,001 – 100,000 visitors per year

1. Clark Botanic Garden, Roslyn Heights, New York
2. Horticultural Art Society Demonstration Garden, Colorado Springs, Colorado
3. Jardin Daniel A Seguin in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec
4. Kishwaukee College in Malta, Illinois
5. Krohn Conservatory, Cincinnati, Ohio
6. McCrory Gardens, Brookings, South Dakota
7. Purdue Extension-Marion County Demonstration Garden, Indianapolis, Indiana
8. Shell Park, Oakville, Ontario
9. Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, Cincinnati, Ohio

Category III: Over 100,000 visitors per year

1. Boerner Botanical Gardens in Hales Corners, Wisconsin
2. Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Cincinnati, Ohio
3. Denver Botanic Gardens in Denver, Colorado
4. State Botanical Garden, Athens, Georgia