In the middle of the winter blues, the University of Connecticut’s Horticulture Club, in collaboration with the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, presented a full-scale garden exhibit to bring spring to life. This presentation took place at the CT Flower and Garden Show from February 19-22 at the CT Convention Center in Hartford.
This group won awards from the Federated Garden Clubs of CT, and the Landscape Design Council for Excellence in Design for Non-Profit and Educational Landscape Exhibits. The garden exhibit also won the awards for Best Use of Unusual Plant Material as well as Best Trained or Shaped Specimens.
All the plants for the show were sourced from donors inside Connecticut and must be able to survive in Connecticut climate, Olivia Delello, plant manager of the Horticulture Club and ecology and evolutionary biology student, stated. Delello said that before coming to the show, the plants were cared for by Horticulture Club advisor Shelly Durocher, plant growth facilities manager Nick Pettit, and greenhouse technician Madison Sajkowicz, along with the UConn Floriculture team.
The theme of the event was a Storybook Garden, which Delello said their design took literally with a little free library and a birdhouse so “people could get lost in an enchanted forest.” A swinging bench was donated for the display by Travis Clark, PSLA Farm Manager, to enhance the theme, according to Delello.
This theme and design earned the display attention from the radio show Lite 105 The Mary and Mike Show. This radio show runs a contest each year for a couple to get married at the Garden Show. This year, Nidia Vasquez and Micheal Burn got married in UConn’s display, according to WTNH News 8.
Delello said “It was an honor for the club to win the awards, but the wedding was very special.”
The full-scale garden exhibit was designed by the LAND 3311 Landscape Architecture Construction II Planting Design Class led by Sohyun Park, a professor of landscape architecture. This was the first time that the class participated in the show, working on the design for about 4-5 weeks in class and was able to help set up the exhibit. This was one of the two projects that are normally done within class to prepare the students for the landscape design industry, according to Park.
“It was nice to have a project that the students were able to see from start to finish, as it is more like industry,” Park said.
The field of landscape architecture encompasses, “science, art and engineering, utilizing design tools and biodiversity to create beautiful and functioning designs,” according to Park, whose research currently focuses on the biodiversity of landscape spaces. Currently on campus there is an ongoing landscape architecture project like rain gardens, bioswales, and roof garden, as well as a proposal for Northeast Science Quad, according to UConn Today.
The Horticulture Club normally meets Wednesdays from 7-8 p.m. and routinely does projects with plants such as air plant wire wrapping or a murder mystery collab with the Women in Soil Ecology Club, upcoming on March 11.
Niko DeSousa, president of the Horticulture Club and eighth semester molecular cellular and evolutionary biology student, said, “Go outside! Plants are cool and come of course [to the club]. There are tons of cool people here to learn and have fun. It’s just a good time!”