March 1, 2010
 Many months of design, planting, nurturing, construction, ingenuity, creativity, and collaboration by dozens of students and faculty in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture at Temple University Ambler resulted in several major awards at the 2010 Philadelphia International Flower Show.
Temple’s exhibit — “METROmorphosis – Transforming the Urban World” — was presented with the “Best in Show” Award in the Academic Educational category. The Flower Show continues through Sunday, March 7,
at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
“The awards that we were given tell us that people appreciate all of the hard work that we have done throughout the year. I expect every student that worked on the exhibit is proud of what we have created,” said Landscape Architecture junior Hannah LaCasse, the project manager for the 2010 exhibit. “Working on a project from the beginning design process to final completion has shown us how a project undergoes many revisions. The most important aspect of the project was the amount of teamwork and cooperation that had to occur within a large group of people for us to succeed.”
METROmorphosis was also awarded the prestigious Bulkley Medal of the Garden Club of America. The Bulkley Medal is awarded to a special exhibit in the fields of horticulture, botany, or conservation and “must be one of exceptional educational merit, which increases the knowledge and awareness of the viewing public,” according to Flower Show organizers.
The exhibit was additionally awarded with the American Horticultural Society Environmental Award “for an exhibit of horticultural excellence which best demonstrates the bond between horticulture and the environment, and inspires the viewers to beautify homes and community through skillful design and appropriate plant material” and
and the Philadelphia Unit of the Herb Society of America Award for “outstanding use of herbs or an individual specimen herb.”
“These awards testify to the broad appeal of our exhibit and its exceptional educational merit. These are all very prestigious awards that reinforce our mission of conservation, sustainability, and beauty,” said Baldev Lamba, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture, who coordinated Temple’s 2010 Flower Show effort along with Horticulture Staff Supervisor and Adjunct Assistant Professor Grace Chapman and Adjunct Assistant Professor Michael LoFurno. “Achieving all these objectives in a 24-foot by 26-foot space is a big challenge but I think our design, consisting of many spaces, makes it look much bigger. The exhibit is a complex integration of plants, structures, and art in a seamless composition.”
 At the 2010 Philadelphia International Flower Show, Temple University Ambler Landscape Architecture and Horticulture students have added a vibrant green to the gray shades of the urban landscape.
“METROmorphosis demonstrates ways to increase biodiversity, conserve natural resources, and promote local food production, thus transforming the urban landscape. Our goal is to inspire visitors to create attractive and diverse ecosystems in small spaces where a variety of plant and animal species can coexist,” said Baldev Lamba, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture. “Inspired by green and sustainable responses to the environmental problems associated with rapid urbanization around the globe, the exhibit will show creative and practical applications for small urban spaces.”
A walk through METROmorphosis is a walk through well crafted examples of a variety of sustainable approaches to garden design within an urban setting. The exhibit consists of three primary sections — an urban “metro meadow,” a rain garden, and a courtyard featuring an “edible wall.”
“The metro meadow demonstrates an urban space being reclaimed by nature — hardy, resilient plants cracking the pavement and expressing themselves. There is hidden nature in all urban settings that wants to come out,” Lamba said. “The Courtyard includes an edible wall, featuring a variety of vegetables and herbs. The walls of the courtyard act as an aqueduct that collects rainwater that flows into the Rain Garden — it’s a very architectural, sculptural piece.”
 The exhibit also includes a beehive and an “eco-wall,” an artistic representation of the urban landscape and the natural landscape working in harmony by combining industrial materials with plants, bird houses, worm farms, and a variety of “found objects.” The handmade brick paving further emphasizes the theme of transformation with colorful mosaics of the metamorphoses of a butterfly and a frog.
“I was looking at pictures from when the walls had just been put up and the eco-wall was just an empty frame. I could not have imagined how wonderful the final product was going to be,” LaCasse said. “We had worked on the design in different rooms and once everything came together it was incredible. The horticulture staff did a wonderful job with the plants that brought the exhibit to life.”
While touring the exhibit, LaCasse said, “I hope visitors will realize that there are many small things that they can do to help the environment.”
“There are a lot of fun activities that people can do at home that have been inspired by the exhibit. People were very interested in the eco-wall and several visitors have said that they plan on constructing their own eco-wall in order to provide habitat for animals,” she said. “The meadow garden has shown people that beautiful gardens can be created in cracks no wider than four inches. Children were especially interested in the mosaic pavers and visitors were also interested in how they could create their own mosaic art pieces to add to their gardens.”
For more information on “METROmorphosis,” call 267-468-8108.
 METROmorphosis continues a long tradition in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture of interdisciplinary and hands-on learning experiences that promote a sustainable design approach. It also continues the Department’s decades-long association with the Philadelphia International Flower Show which has resulted in “Best in Show” awards in 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, and this year.
The Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture at Temple University Ambler, part of the School of Environmental Design in Temple’s College of Liberal Arts, is committed to excellence in ecologically based education. The department’s goal is to train leaders in the art and science of horticulture (A.S., B.S., and certificate programs) and landscape architecture (MLArch and B.S. programs). The programs provide students with knowledge and understanding of the environment so that they can improve the quality of our urban, suburban, and rural communities.
For more information on the Horticulture and Landscape Architecture programs at Temple University Ambler, visit www.ambler.temple.edu/la-hort. For more information on the 2010 Philadelphia Flower Show, visit www.theflowershow.com.
CONTACT: James Duffy, 267-468-8108, duffyj@temple.edu, release available by e-mail
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