Best in show
1 Mar, 2006 By: Ron Hall Landscape ManagementEntering landscape gardens in major flower shows is expensive and time consuming. Two landscape pros tell why it's worth it.
Two relatively new landscape companies run by talented young designers took top honors at this winter's Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta.
"These types of events showcase our work and our talents," says Alex Smith, Alex Smith Garden Design LTD. His garden, complete with a chic restaurant/bistro motif overlooking a full-sized bocce ball court, was selected as best in the Large Garden division.
"Somebody has to raise the bar when it comes to creativity and imagination," says Matthew Klyn, president of New Leaf Landscape Group/Matthew Klyn Design Group. His team's 900-sq.-ft. garden, Moderno, took top honors in the Medium Garden category.
 Alex Smith Garden Design LTD's bistro theme struck just the right note with its massive 3,500 -sq.-ft. garden entitled 'Alfresco.' |
Even so, would you spend $20,000 or more in labor and materials and assign yourself and your employees almost a week of physical labor to exhibit and compete in one of these events? And did we mention calling on your suppliers for support and materials as well?
Putting together a themed landscape garden at a juried show is a big decision that takes months to plan and execute. It's definitely a team effort.
Push the envelope
In fact, not many landscape company owners are bold enough to conceive, build and display a landscape garden in one of the dozens of themed "flower" or "home and garden" shows that brighten homeowners' winter spirits in major U.S. cities every year. Even so, this small fraternity of landscape pros say the effort is worthwhile, and often for reasons beyond market visibility and increased sales.
 No, the water isn't flowing from this metal fixture. It's bubbling up from the pool in Matt Klyn's award-winning 'Moderno.' |
Smith and Klyn began preparing designs and lining up materials for the flower show months before its one-week February run at the huge Georgia World Congress Center.
"To pull your whole group together and create something really amazing gives your whole team an incredible feeling," says Klyn. "It's almost impossible to describe the camaraderie that the company feels on a project like this, especially when the awards start coming in. It lifts everybody's morale."
Klyn, who grew up in the nursery business in northeast Ohio, says his team's creative drive is the biggest factor in its rapid growth. Beginning its seventh season, his company is just breaking through the $1 million barrier.
His goal at this year's show was to "push the envelope as far as we could push it," he says. And he did, with an ultra-modern design that featured a fireplace, hip furniture and cool music. But it was the terraced walkway made from mammoth slabs of rock that masons cut on site and a huge funnel-shaped metal container suspended over a fountain that fascinated visitors and excited judges.
"I'm all about architectural elements and accessorizing in my gardens," he says. "We're not one of those companies that do the same stuff the same way every year."
 Masons cut huge stone slabs on site to complement the terraced walkway of Klyn's design. |
Participating in one of these annual winter events is not for the typical mow, blow and go contractor. And it's definitely not for the timid or meek design/build contractor. But, for professionals willing to make the effort, and to do it with energy and creativity, the payoff in terms of positive publicity and visibility, at least among the public that's into the "gardening" side of the landscape industry, can be enormous.
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