Grow Down 2015 at Tucson Botanical Gardens

March 24, 2015 — garden, Grow Down, Tucson Botanical Gardens

Then Grow Down event is a competition held in the spring each year at the Tucson Botanical Gardens.  This year the designers created spaces featuring native plants coordinated with metal, wood, stone, bamboo, brick, and glass.  I liked all of them, but my favorite one was the most stark.  The copper background wall sets off the large rain chain designed with metal bowls and colored glass sitting in the center of the garden.  This installation won no prize, probably because there was no seating provided.  The other two entries gave the visitor a feeling of private seating in an outdoor room.  The winner has a wonderful water feature that circulates around the space creating a rushing liquid sound.

The third design used a theme of feng shui.  The bamboo divider functions as a wind chime as well as a privacy veil.  The seating is cozy around the artful floor with a stone compass made of rounded pebbles.  This design felt the most personal to me.  It won the people’s choice award.

These contests give gardeners ideas to try ourselves, and introduce us to local landscape designers we can hire when we want something special.   The entries this year were less elaborate than in the past, but to my taste they were more artful.  They all bring new ways to think about garden spaces that are easy to execute, and not too wildly expensive for a home gardener.