K-State students take home top honors in Rose Selections competition

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Source: Chip Winslow, 785-532-2447, chipwin@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Michelle Hall, 785-532-6415, mhall@k-state.edu

Monday, October 9, 2006

K-STATE STUDENTS TAKE HOME TOP HONORS IN ROSE SELECTIONS COMPETITION

MANHATTAN -- For four Kansas State University landscape architecture students, a recent competition came up roses.

The students, one group of three and one individual, took home first and second place in the All-America Rose Selections 2006 "Designing with Roses" competition. Judges from Better Homes & Gardens, Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the American Society of Landscape Architects, Weeks Roses and Jackson & Perkins considered submissions from across the country, selecting the designs that best demonstrated excellent landscape design execution and incorporation of rose plants into the site design, according to the association.

This was the inaugural "Designing with Roses" competition, and entries included large public gardens, restoration projects, memorial gardens, university grounds and private homes. Winners were announced in a professional category, as well as a student category. Student entries were not required to be built.

The Kansas State University Gardens "Secret Garden," designed by Hilary Kemper, graduate student, Lawrence, and Lynda Armstrong, graduate student, and Aarthi Padmanabhan, graduate student, both of Manhattan, received top honors in the student category. The team will receive a $1,000 first-place prize.

The students' "Secret Garden" design provides for educational and learning opportunities by demonstrating how roses can be incorporated into a home garden scheme, as well as spaces for relaxation and gathering.

Second prize went to Timothy Merklein, senior, Prairie View, for Kansas State University Gardens "Conservatory Garden." Merklein's design leaves much space for walking and seating and includes a reflecting pool as a historical reference to the former gardens, as well as a large formal lawn for events.

The students created the designs in classes taught by K-State landscape architecture professor Chip Winslow. Winslow said the graduate students worked on their project for Planting Design, while Merklein created his for Design 4. Winslow said he likes to incorporate projects that help the community into his classes at the end of the semester. He gives students two or three realistic projects to choose from, and when he saw this design competition, he made it one of the choices for spring 2006.

"The K-State Gardens are looking at developing a formal garden and redeveloping their rose garden," said Winslow, who designed the master plan for the K-State Gardens when it was created. The garden curator, Scott McElwain, met with the students at the garden before the students created their suggestions for redevelopment. The students incorporated a newly purchased tiered fountain into their designs, for example. Winslow said they certainly gave K-State Gardens some ideas to work with and a few of them also entered their designs into the "Designing with Roses" competition.

He said K-Staters taking the top two student prizes was a nice surprise.

"I think it was great," Winslow said. "You never know going into this -- it was open to students all across the country. But I'm always confident of our students doing well. They have good talent and express themselves well."

All-America Rose Selections is a nonprofit association dedicated to the introduction and promotion of exceptional roses. For more information and to see images of the winning designs, go to http://www.rose.org