This is the archived site for the 2020 Virtual Garden Contest. Feel free to browse!
For this year’s contest rules, entry form, and entries, please visit this page.

2020
Virtual Garden
Contest

Entry Form

Rules

Flower Gardens

Vegetable Gardens

Houseplants

This is the archived site for the 2020 Virtual Garden Contest. Feel free to browse!
For this year’s contest rules, entry form, and entries, please visit this page.

During this time of social distancing, people are turning to nature to inspire and heal. Celebrate these spaces for healing and transformation with us.

The Delaware Center for Horticulture in partnership with our lead sponsor Discover invite you to enter our Virtual Garden Contest. During this time of social distancing, people are turning to nature and gardening for inspiration and healing. Many people are starting their own Victory Gardens growing vegetables and herbs, while others are spending more time outdoors tending to their spring flowers. Even those with no outdoor space have created their own indoor oasis with an array of house plants. We want to celebrate these spaces for healing and transformation, and so we encourage individuals, families with or without children, and businesses to enter for a chance to win. The contest includes three categories to choose from – flower garden, vegetable garden, and house plants. Show us how you make your garden grow!

If you like the Virtual Garden Contest, and want to support our neighborhood greening work and environmental education programming for all ages, please consider becoming a member of DCH today. Your membership shows your support for the environmental movement, and sustains DCH’s urban agriculture, urban forestry, and public landscape programs. Learn more, or buy your membership online, by clicking here.

Rules and Judging Criteria

Everyone is eligible to enter! Entry to the contest is free. Only one entry form per household or business is allowed. Entries will be accepted from May 4, 2020 to July 31, 2020. All entries will be posted on our website for everyone to enjoy.
Contestants enter by submitting this online form. We must receive a completed form and exactly five (5) photos for your entry to be considered. Additional photo information is included on the form.
Judging will take place in August. The judging team will be six Discover volunteers. Judging criteria, which can be found on the forms below, varies for each garden category. Childrens’ gardens (12 and under) will be judged in separate groups per category.

Judging Form 2020 – Flower Gardens

Judging Form 2020 – Vegetable Gardens

Judging Form 2020 – Houseplants

Each entry will be reviewed by the judges and given points accordingly. The top three gardens with the most points in each category wins!
Prizes will be awarded in September and include a free Household membership to DCH, a popular gardening book, and a certificate of achievement.
All Virtual Garden Contest entrants must agree to our photography release statement on the submission form. This will allow us to post your lovely photographs on our website, on our social media channels, and in future printed materials. Your contact information is solely for internal use and will not be shared nor sold at any point.

2020 Contest Winners!

Small Wonder Urban Garden by “Eric & Jason Hoover”

Flower Gardens - 2nd Place Garden description: Five years ago, Small Wonder Urban Garden was created under the idea that a large impact can be achieved even in a small urban space. It was built as an oasis for pollinators and humans in the center...

Green Grove by “Gigi”

Houseplants - 1st Place Garden description: Growing House plants is the closest way to bring home a feel of living with nature. In my tiny apartment, I've tried to make sure I see a little bit of green anywhere I look - from the kitchen to the...

Rock Garden Sanctuary by “Jane Brooks”

Flower Gardens - 3rd Place Garden description: We built the garden on a hillside, making 3 levels using New York blue granite rocks. It was done in June 2018. We then added two magnolia trees, two red buds, several hydranga and three cryptomeria...

Shepherd’s Community Garden by “Good Shepherd Lutheran Church”

Vegetable Gardens - 1st Place Garden description: We are a faith based community garden. We have 7 large raised beds that all produce goes to St Stephen's Food Pantry in Wilmington. We have 30 community garden plots that are rented out to the...

Our Fairfield Garden by “Barb Rosen”

Flower Gardens - 1st Place Garden description: Our Fairfield Garden has just turned twelve years old. When we first moved to this 60+ year old home there were only large pines, a Zelkova tree, some shrubs and masses of pachysandra and English Ivy....

Half Acre Garden by “John & Shannon”

Vegetable Gardens - 2nd Place (tie) Garden description: The main garden is a 600 sq ft rectangular fenced area. The “fence” is wire poultry netting that is attached to a post and beam skeleton of burned timbers. The wire fence is buried 8” below...

In The Garden with Gail by “Gail Hermenau”

Vegetable Gardens - 2nd Place (tie) Garden description: My small but intensive vegetable garden includes a variety of seasonal vegetables from spring through fall. I grow everything using organic methods and compost all of the plant material...

Recent Entries

My Secret Garden by “Annie Harris”

Garden description: This is my little garden in my little yard in the back of my little row home in the city of Wilmington. It is very private, surrounded by a tall fence, and the only access is through my house. I am not from the city and even...

7 Flamingos by “Alison Altergott”

Garden description: This is a two-year-old garden, still very much a work in progress. Upon moving three years ago, I started with the front yard, and I’m now filling in the back yard and attempting to grow some vegetables as well. Who are the...

My Happy Place by “Lo-Raine”

Garden description: "My Happy Place" has been personally crafted with an array of colorful flowers and greenery that creates an atmosphere of warmth, calm and peacefulness. The breathtaking view of the sunset connects me to a place and time where...

Pickin’ Petals by “Karen”

Garden description: Full of color throughout the seasons, even winter with February blooms of Arnold's Promise and Lenten Roses. Spring and Summer I walk around the garden deadheading, clipping a chewed or yellow leaf or two and sometimes cutting...

A City Front Yard Garden by “Marilyn Bromels”

Garden description: This garden is planted with shade-loving plants. The lawn area receives afternoon sun, but the planting bed is shaded for the entire day by the Korean dogwood in the center of the plot and trees from the neighboring lots. The...

Small Wonder Urban Garden by “Eric & Jason Hoover”

Flower Gardens - 2nd Place Garden description: Five years ago, Small Wonder Urban Garden was created under the idea that a large impact can be achieved even in a small urban space. It was built as an oasis for pollinators and humans in the center...

Newark Wildlife Garden by “Sheila A. Smith”

Garden description: A Backyard Habitat since 2006, this former 1/4 acre of lawn, features over 100 species of native trees, shrubs, ferns, grasses, vines, and perennials arranged in large curvy beds that surround a grassy meadow area. The Button...

All 2020 Entries by Category

2020 Winners

Flower Gardens

Vegetable Gardens

House Plants

This is the archived site for the 2020 Virtual Garden Contest. Feel free to browse!
For this year’s contest rules, entry form, and entries, please visit this page.

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