River’s Edge Landscapers
River’s Edge Landscapers won the top award—Best Overall Presentation—taking home the top prize of $750 at the 2012 Leesburg Flower Garden Festival.
Wildwood Landscape
Past Leesburg Flower Garden Festival award winners Wildwood Landscape took home accolades for Outstanding Creativity Design at the 2012 event. Their entry, lit by streetlight, is pictured above.
West Winds Nursery
West Winds Nursery took home the award for Outstanding Technical Craftsmanship at the 2012 Leesburg Flower Garden Festival. Above, lit by work lights the evening before the show, crew members can be seen assembling West Winds’ winning entry.
Posted: Monday, April 30, 2012 10:00 am
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Updated: 6:07 pm, Sun Apr 29, 2012.
Posted on
April 30, 2012
Despite miserable weather during the last day of the event, the 2012 Leesburg Flower Garden Festival was a success, packing in the crowds on a beautiful April 21, who enjoyed what many come to regard as the opening salvo of spring.
According to Special Events Supervisor Rachael Goodwin, the weather “was not as bad as it could have been,” noting predictions had included rain and thunderstorms Saturday afternoon, none of which materialized. An estimated 21,000 visitors strolled the downtown April 21 and, amazingly, she said, about 3,000 hardy souls braved cold, wet weather April 22.
Vendors were happy with sales at the outset of the festival, with one vendor telling Goodwin it had been “the best one-day ever” during that vendor’s five years at the event. She was struck with how visitors Saturday came in early, well before the scheduled 10 a.m. opening.
This year’s landscaping contest produced three winners under the new format established by the festival committee and Town of Leesburg Parks and Public Spaces Planner and landscape designer Bill Ference, who handles the contest.
The three landscape designers are no strangers to the winner’s circle but this was a first time under the new arrangement. River’s Edge Landscapers won for the Best Overall Presentation, taking home the top award of $750. Winner of the Outstanding Creativity design was Wildwood Landscape, and West Winds Nursery took home the award for Outstanding Technical Craftsmanship. The latter two award winners received $500 each.
River’s Edge had a lot of landscape details, Ference said, including “nice vertical elements and different colors of brick, as well as a rounded top wooden door in the wall.” Plant material was good, and the landscape exhibit had very good, special labels to add a final touch, Ference said.
Several time contest winner Wildwood Landscape showed the company’s trademark creativity in incorporating a greenhouse into the overall design, with a nice ramped path leading up, Ference said.
Another past winner, West Winds Nursery had a good mix of high quality plant material, a nice pond and good features including a very large boulder five-to-six-feet long set up to form a bench, plus other big rocks covered with moss and a trellis, according to Ference.
He said he was pleased with the new format. “The judges really liked it,” he said, appreciating the way the designers were able to show different design facets. Judges were Robert Jackson, a landscape designer from Leesburg and Dave Scheid, head of the Northern Virginia Community College Horticultural Division.
Looking ahead to the 2013 festival, Goodwin quipped, “all I want is two nice days—maybe one year I’ll get it.”
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Monday, April 30, 2012 10:00 am.
Updated: 6:07 pm.
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