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2011 Tucson Xeriscape Contest Winners Announced
June 4, 2011
As the sun's rays faded to evening on June 4th, landscape designers and home gardeners convened at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum's first Summer Saturday Evening of the season to honor and celebrate the winners of the 2011 Tucson Xeriscape Contest. Partners in the event are the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, Tohono Chul Park, and Tucson Botanical Gardens.
The Xeriscape Contest promotes principles of water-conserving landscaping and celebrates those who embrace these concepts. The celebration included an awards ceremony MC'd by Aaron Pickering, meteorologist at KOLD, and a gathering afterwards where the public was invited to visit with experts and sponsors to learn more about living in harmony with the desert.
Winning the first place Homeowner award was Cynthia P. Reiners who created an inviting landscape with a diversity of desert-adapted native plants. Robert and Kimberly LoGreco won the second place homeowner award with a landscape that reflects their personality and where their Mediterranean roots clearly show.
In the professional category, first place winner Wendy M. King of River Road Designs worked closely with the homeowners of the Jackson residence to create a diversity of outdoor rooms that reflect the eclectic plant palette of the Jacksons, creating an intimate and inviting outdoor experience coupled with a sophisticated rainwater harvesting system. Second place in the professional category went to Shelly Ann Abbott of Landscape Design West for creating an embracing outdoor living space entwined with the native desert seen beyond the enclosed backyard of the Cole residence.
Manzo Elementary School cheered their first place award in the School & Community Garden Category, with over 70 of the children and their families filling the seats of the Warden Oasis Theater. Their desert tortoise habitat utilized only rainwater harvesting to water the native food plants for the resident reptile. Salvaged succulents made the landscape look as mature as the tortoise. The school has a fabulous and increasingly rare community spirit. It is a real gem in our community.
Wil and Mai Schaffer were crowned the king and queen of rainwater harvesting, with an extensive rain barrel storage system and a landscape peppered with native succulents and other plants. They won the Judges' Award for best use of water harvesting in a residential landscape.
The Xeriscape Leadership Award was granted to the Watershed Management Group for their continued promotion of water harvesting systems. They embrace the spirit of "more green for the drop" that is at the heart of xeriscape.
A free raffle was held as well, with plants and gift certificates being awarded to lucky visitors. After the celebrations, participants strolled the Desert Museum's grounds in the cool of evening, taking in the activities of the first Summer Saturday Evening of the year.
