Rosicrucian Park Native Plants Landscaping Contest

The Native Plants Gardens will officially open in December 2008. A special exhibit regarding the Rosicrucian Park Native Plants Landscaping contest is currently on display in the Visitor’s Center of the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum.

The Native Plants Design Team Rosicrucian Park has announced the winners of the 2007 Native Plants Landscaping Contest. The Cabrillo College Design Group, a team of 5 students from Cabrillo College, won the award for both sites of Phase I of the contest - winning a total prize of $5,000. Forty designs were submitted for the contest, from designers from six states and Canada.

When Professor Lisa McAndrew of the Horticulture Department at Cabrillo College heard about the Rosicrucian Park Native Plants contest she created a one-unit summer course based on the project. The students in her class had diverse interests and experience, including one student who had taken a class in Egyptian gardens the year before and another who was especially interested in water conservation. Professor McAndrew says that the students were quite inspired by our project and are absolutely thrilled that they won. They plan to use part of the prize money to pay for a trip visiting other California Native Plant Gardens and nurseries during their Winter Term.

Julie Scott, President of Rosicrucian Park, stated some of the reasons why the judges chose this group's designs. "The landscape design for the front of the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum significantly increased the educational space of the museum, without having to enlarge the actual museum building. The garden will include a shaduf (an irrigation device used in ancient Egypt), a cistern utilizing runoff rainwater, and other educational features, in addition to the educational value of the plants themselves.

The design for the area around the Rosicrucian Learning Center includes a meadow which presents a great opportunity to illustrate a lawn alternative that can easily be replicated by others in the community."

Botany of Design was also awarded a prize of $2,500 for their submission which will be used in front of the Rosicrucian Administration Building on Naglee Avenue. This site was going to be part of Phase II of the project, however the judges wanted to award this prize immediately in order to use the design which will work very well in the Administration building area.

President Julie Scott said, "We are so pleased with the response to our Native Plants Landscaping Design contest. All of the designs were creative and very professionally presented, whether submitted by professionals or amateurs. We are also grateful for the many kinds comments we received about Rosicrucian Park. Many of the designers shared their warm memories of previous visits to Rosicrucian Park. We are so happy to have this relationship with our community."

Although not originally part of the contest, the designers of all 40 submissions received a complimentary pass for two to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium through 2008.