Game on

First place, Category III: Boerner Botanical Gardens, Hales Corner, Wisconsin | Boerner Botanical Gardens created dominoes out of old cabinet doors by drilling holes in them and filling the pips with AAS Winner Zinnia Profusion Red Yellow Bicolor. The team also created a chess board by using Gypsophila Gypsy White and Dianthus Ideal Violet, among other games.

Second place, Category III: State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Athens, Georgia | This garden arranged colorful blooms in a wheel, a reference to spin-the-wheel features in board games. The ‘What’s In Bloom’ sign will be adapted for seasonal color beds in the future.

First place, Category II: Domaine Joly-De Lotbinière, Sainte-Croix, Quebec | Inspired by the talking flowers from Alice in Wonderland, staff members wrote a short story about a clumsy gardener who mixed up all the AAS Winner seeds when sowing them, then asked children to help find them in the garden. Each variety was represented as a person describing itself so the child could easily learn, identify and remember it.

Second place, Category II: Purdue Extension-Marion County Demonstration Garden, Indianapolis, Indiana | A variety of games and challenges were positioned throughout the garden and along garden pathways, including a spinning wheel, dart ball, tic-tac-toe, checkers and Kerplunk. Eleven new AAS winners were featured on a spin-the-wheel inspired game, complete with a photo and a brief description to help visitors find some of the varieties in the garden.

Third place, Category II: Horticultural Art Society Demonstration Garden, Colorado Springs, Colorado | Children and families participated in nature scavenger hunts, coloring and tic-tac-toe with AAS plants serving as game pieces.

First place, Category I: Lee College Horticulture Program, Huntsville, Texas | The student landscapes featured two distinct themes: classic games like Barrel of Monkeys, putt-putt golf and Battleship, and contemporary ones like corn hole and Jenga.

Second place, Category I: Weston Garden Center, Weston, Missouri | Weston Garden Center created seven different stations, each with different themes and applicable AAS winners. Signage encouraged visitors to read the plant tags then, using the clues given, guess the game.

Third place, Category I (tie): Master Gardener Association of Tippecanoe County Display Garden, Lafayette, Indiana | At the garden entrance, star-shaped beds took on the life of a Chinese checkers game. Each point of the star was planted with an AAS winner representing one color of traditional Chinese checker marbles.