PA Horticultural Society Gardening & Greening Contest Now Accepting Entries

The PA Horticultural Society is now accepting entries in the 2018 PHS Gardening and Green Contest recognizing gardeners in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The deadline for entries is June 8.

The contest invites backyard gardeners, community gardeners, and all who are passionate about greening public spaces to enter.

Participants can include: home gardeners with in-ground, combination, container or specialty gardens; children’s gardens, maintained by school-age children under the supervision of an adult; community gardeners with vegetable and flower gardens, garden blocks, public-space plantings, and parks; and, businesses that have beautified their properties.

The ten contest categories are:

-- Children’s Garden: A home garden, a plot within a community garden, or a garden on school grounds that is maintained primarily by school-age children, usually under adult supervision.

-- Combination Garden: Any size garden with both vegetables and flowers, minimum of 30% in either vegetables/flowers.

-- Container Garden: A garden where most plants are grown in containers, pots, or window boxes.

-- Flower Garden: Any size garden containing mostly flowers and/or trees and shrubs. This includes community flower gardens cared for by three or more people.

-- Specialty Garden: A flower garden including pollinator gardens, native gardens, rain gardens, or other gardens highlighting specific plants.

-- Garden Block: A commercial or residential block with container plantings, hanging baskets,

and/or in-ground plantings.

-- Public Space (Plantings or Parks): Gardens located in public spaces such as parks, libraries, churches, hospital grounds, train stations, traffic islands, businesses, memorial gardens, etc.

-- Urban Farm: An entrepreneurial garden that grows and sells fruit, vegetables, and flowers and donates a percentage of the produce to a food cupboard.

-- Vegetable Garden: Any size garden with mostly vegetables, cared for by an individual, or a community vegetable garden cared for by three or more people.

Entries from throughout the region will be judged on maintenance and horticultural practices, as well as the variety, color, and suitability of plantings. Design and total visual effects and imaginative ideas will also be considered.

Volunteer judges will be chosen for their expertise and achievements.

Gardeners whose projects are chosen for recognition will be invited to an awards reception, where photos of the winning gardens will be showcased. As a thank you for participating, PHS invites all contestants to enroll in their upcoming gardening programs and workshops at reduced costs.

For all the details and to enter, visit the PHS Gardening and Green Contest webpage.  Questions should be directed to 215-988-8897, or send email to: ggcontest@pennhort.org.

For more information on programs, initiatives and upcoming events, visit the PA Horticultural Society website, Like PHS on Facebook, Join PHS on Instagram and Follow on Twitter.  Click Here to sign up for regular updates from PHS.  Click Here to become a member.