ALL-AMERICA SELECTIONS 
1311 Butterfield Road, Suite 310, Downers Grove, IL 60515-5625
P: (630) 963-0770 EM: aas@aas-ngb.org
www.aaswinners.com
www.all-americaselections.org
WINNERS OF THE THIRD ANNUAL
LANDSCAPE DESIGN CONTEST
ARE ANNOUNCED BY ALL-AMERICA SELECTIONS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DOWNERS GROVE, IL – October 15, 2013 – Three years ago, All-America Selections (AAS) launched a
new contest for almost 200 Display Gardens to encourage new and exciting landscaping ideas with AAS
Winners. The success of the program has been beyond expectations and continues to grow and impress
every year. 2014’s contest asked participants to expand on a theme of using containers in the landscape.
This contest is a landscape design contest incorporating AAS Winners, past and present. Each garden is
responsible for creating and executing the design, generating publicity surrounding the contest then
submitting the photos, proof of publicity and an overall description of their design. All-America Selections
is extremely pleased with not only the number of gardens that participated but also the broad range of
garden types: large and small public gardens, seed companies, community gardens, master gardener
programs and university gardens. All-America Selections salutes all the gardens and their impressive
efforts to produce an attractive display of AAS Winners.
The rules were fairly simple:
1. The 2014 contest theme was: “Incorporating Containers into the Landscape.”
2. Entry form must list the AAS Winners incorporated into the design.
3. A minimum of 50% of the total landscaped area must be AAS Winners and labeled with the
variety name, AAS Winner designation and if possible, use the AAS logo.
4. Entry form must include a written description of the design in 100 words or less.
5. Nine photographs of each garden must be submitted in digital form.
6. Local publicity is expected and will be part of the criteria for judging.
7. Contest is open to current year plantings only, not previous year displays.
The criteria and final score weighting were:
 25% of the score was based on the quantity of AAS Winner varieties used and signage
designating them as such
 20% of the score was based on the overall attractiveness of landscape design
 20% of the score was based on the creative use of AAS Winners in the design
 25% of the score was based on any promotion of the display to local media and garden
visitors/members
 10% of the score was based on photo quality and design description/explanation
There were three categories, based on number of visitors to that garden in one year:
Category I: fewer than 10,000 visitors per year
Category II: 10,001 – 100,000 visitors per year
Category III: Over 100,000 visitors per year
All-America Selections recognizes and thanks the contest judges who are industry experts in the field of
horticulture and landscaping:
Jeff Gibson, Landscape Business Manger, Ball Horticultural Company
Bruce Hellerick, Senior Horticulture Specialist, The Brickman Group
Susan Schmitz, Trials and Education Manager, Ball Horticultural Company
Barbara Wise, author and Director of Floriculture, Landscape Services, Inc.
THE WINNER GARDENS ARE:
Category I: fewer than 10,000 visitors per year
First Place Winner: University of Wisconsin Spooner Ag Research Station, Teaching and Display
Garden, Spooner, Wisconsin. “Down on the Farm” was the theme for this Display Garden, celebrating
family farmers who survived through hard work and ingenuity. Using salvaged typical household items,
they organized and planted garden rooms then filled and interspersed those items with AAS Winners to
provide a riot of color. Judges gave this garden high rankings because of the number of AAS Winners
used along with the unique props that helped tell an educational story. Then to top it off, Spooner did a
fantastic job of spreading the word among their local community via Social Media, radio, newspapers,
their own website, e-newsletters and with the University of Wisconsin’s Extension programs.
Second Place Winner: Noelridge Park Gardens, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Beautiful, elegant and artistic is
how the judges described the AAS display at Noelridge Park Gardens. Highlighting this garden were the
many structures and containers handcrafted from native willow branches—all done by their volunteers!
Multiple groups collaborated together on this project that not only resulted in a beautiful community
garden but also numerous articles by local media, informational sessions by Master Gardeners and
ongoing Social Media updates about the garden and events being held at the garden.
Third Place Winner: Purdue Extension Tippecanoe County Display & Idea Gardens, Lafayette,
Indiana. This Display Garden used an impressive 60 different AAS Winners, including Gold Medal
Winners from past years, in their 24 Idea Gardens. To garner community participation, garden planners
invited the public to participate in a Container Design contest where they granted awards in each of these
categories: Best Use of AAS Winners, Most Colorful, Most Unusual and Overall Best Plant Display. An
Open House held in August showed off the AAS flowers and vegetables at their peak.
Honorable Mention, “Best Inspiration” Garden: Kenosha County Center Demonstration Garden,
Bristol, Wisconsin. Judges just couldn’t let this year go by without giving an extra special shout out to
this first-year Display Garden in Kenosha for their many inspiring garden ideas. In one small plot, they
used a rattan chair frame, a wicker wastebasket, a wire trellis, a palette as a vertical garden and other
household items to support their theme of “Inside Out.”
Honorable Mention, “Most Creative” Garden: Jennings Park, WSU Master Gardener Demo Garden,
Marysville, Washington. The first word used to describe this garden is “Creative” and thus, a special
award to Jennings Park for their outstanding creativity. Garden planners used a number of ideas and
items to make this garden come alive with color as well as signage that helped show the beauty and
usefulness of AAS Winners.
Category II: 10,001 – 100,000 visitors per year
First Place Winner: The Arboretum - State Botanical Garden of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.
Located next to the University of Kentucky’s All-America Selections trial bed, this display made great use
of the 2014 container theme. With multiple large, square containers lining the main walkway, and
numerous other containers positioned in strategic spots, thirty four AAS Winners gracefully filled the
containers and borders with glorious color. Adding edibles to the garden showed how containers, edibles
and flowers can seamlessly work in harmony in a well-designed garden.
Second Place Winner: Jardin Daniel A Séguin, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec. With a theme of urban ag,
this AAS Display Garden took advantage of the opportunity to promote urban agriculture to their visitors
as well as to the general public with their public relations work. By using nineteen AAS Winners and
strategically placed container gardens, the garden transformed rigid linear flower beds into beautiful
spaces showing how flowers and edibles can peacefully co-exist in an urban garden.
Category III: Over 100,000 visitors per year
First Place Winner: Rotary Botanical Gardens, Janesville, Wisconsin. Rotary knocked another one
out of the ballpark with this year’s “Pollinator’s Paradise” theme using almost 90 AAS Winner varieties
and repurposed containers for an overall earth-friendly theme. The contest was promoted in the garden’s
blog an amazing 17 times, in addition to radio show talks, press releases, local garden magazine stories
and more. Judges raved about the creatively designed short, medium and tall containers and the
excellent use of color in three separate ways: drifts in the landscape, in the many containers and as
solitary specimen varieties.
Second Place Winner: Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver, Colorado. Set among the many beautiful
areas of the Denver Botanic Garden is the aptly named “AAS Garden” where landscape designers chose
AAS Winners in colors to reflect the time of day. The first Sunrise Bed features hot colors that light up as
the sun appears. The second Sunrise Bed features vegetables and annuals with a large container as the
centerpiece. In the garden area where weddings are held, guests are able to reflect on the Twilight Bed
with cool-colored annuals. Lastly is the Sunset Bed where a symphony of colors plays their last hurrah as
the sun sets.
Third Place *TIE* Winner: Royal Botanical Gardens, Burlington, Ontario. RBG took a formerly flat
grassy area and transformed it into an AAS paradise with three large arching beds accented by four
creatively designed and placed container gardens. The middle of the AAS Display Garden featured the
newest AAS Winners, flanked by two equal sized beds that featured AAS Winners from past years.
Artfully positioned in and around these three beds were various containers featuring additional AAS
Winners spilling over to make a beautiful floral statement.
Third Place *TIE* Winner: State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Athens, Georgia. The State Botanical
Garden took a sensual approach to the garden emphasizing flowing lines and the visual impact it makes
when standing on a nearby overlook. AAS Winners were planted in both waves and circles to create a
soothing appearance as well as a mix of textures. Judges liked that approach as well as the handouts the
garden created for visitors that explain the AAS Mission and trialing process.
Honorable Mention, “Most Artistic” Garden: Norseco at the Botanical Garden of Montreal,
Montreal, Quebec. This is the first year that horticulture company Norseco has had their Display Garden
in such a high-traffic location such as the Botanical Garden of Montreal. This means a new opportunity to
educate a large number of visitors about AAS Winners. They accomplished this with multiple beds
artistically designed then named by the dominant colors in that area. Garden designers used some older,
taller AAS Winners to provide that visual interest with height.
Each of these contest winners are profiled on the AAS website, under “Display Gardens”
A complete collection of photos from all contest entrants can be found on the All-America Selections
Flickr and Facebook accounts.
For more information about the contest winners or how to participate in 2015, contact Diane Blazek, AllAmerica Selections at dblazek@aas-ngb.org.
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All-America Selections is a non-profit organization founded in 1932 to test new flowers and vegetables for
home gardening. We utilize a network of 70 judges in over 40 trials grounds across North America to rate
entries against comparisons. We then use an active publicity program to promote the best performers that
are declared AAS Winners.