Rutgers Landscape Design Students Excel at Show

New Brunswick, NJ—Students at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences won multiple awards for a garden they built and designed for this year’s New Jersey Flower and Garden Show, which was held at the New Jersey Convention Center in Edison this past weekend. The winnings included five first-place awards: Best Use of Structural Elements, Judges Choice, Most Creative, Best Interpretation of Theme and "Grandest Illusion." The students also were acknowledged by the New Jersey Association of Professional Landscape Designers with first place in their Excellence in Garden Design Award.

The students’ garden, called "The Games People Play:  RU Game?" was their interpretation of the theme of the Flower and Garden Show, “The Entertaining Garden.” An interactive tic-tac-toe fountain, designed to be played by two guests, was in the center of the garden. A large patio with a curved bench with a built-in checker board developed the entrance to the garden.

“We took the theme very literally,” said David Warrick, a Cook College (now School of Environmental and Biological Sciences) environmental planning and design major. “A lot of the other people have entertainment gardens, places where you could go and you could play games, but don’t have games built into the display.”

The garden also focused upon sustainability. Most of the plants were selected for reduced water consumption and the patio was partially covered by overhead rain collecting fabrics, which funneled water through the center of a dining table and into a cistern.  There was a small stream of water running from the fabric to entertain the dinner guests.  A “green wall” of plants served as the backdrop for the tic-tac-toe fountain.

The design and construction of the garden are part of two three-credit courses in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the school. Students worked on the design of the garden in the fall, and then another class began construction in January.

In addition to the first place awards, the students received second place awards for best plant material and most educational, and the People’s Choice Award and third place awards for best use of plants and best landscape design.