INDIANAPOLIS, IN (October 24, 2025) - Marion County’s very own Purdue Extension Demonstration Garden takes a first-place Category II win in the All-America Selections' 2025 Landscape Design challenge for the fifth time. This is the seventh time the volunteer-maintained garden has placed in the competition since its creation.
All-America Selections’ 2025 Landscape Design Challenge embraced education this year with a theme of “S.T.E.A.M…Using AAS Winners.”
For the challenge, AAS provided the gardens with recent AAS Winner seeds and plants. The gardens had the option to also incorporate older AAS Winners in their design to give a historical aspect to their display, if desired. Gardens were encouraged to hold educational events (especially appropriate this year) to share the story of All-America Selections and AAS Winners.
Gardens are divided into three categories based on the number of visitors per year:
Category I: fewer than 10,000 visitors per year
Category II: 10,001 – 100,000 visitors per year
Category III: Over 100,000 visitors per year
Purdue Extension Master Gardener volunteers, in collaboration with the Marion County Extension office, planned, planted, and maintained the Demonstration Garden. While a small amount of the produce is used for testing and demonstration, most fresh vegetables are donated to local food pantries around Marion County.
This year, the garden achieved a new daily average visitor record of 1,039, totaling 15,588 people, over the course of the 15-day Indiana State Fair. Guests were able to seek design ideas and solutions to gardening issues.
New AAS Winners like Petunia Dekko Maxx Pink and Pepper Pick-N-Pop Yellow were visitor favorites. The garden prominently featured a "Living Classroom" banner and dedicated signage to illustrate the STEAM curriculum. This included a Pi Trail (Math), an F1 Hybrid explanation (Science), a Flower Tower demonstration (Engineering), and QR codes (Technology) for plant lists and construction guides, effectively turning the display into a popular and engaging educational experience.
About the Demonstration Garden
The Purdue Extension Marion County Demonstration Garden was created on the Indiana State Fairgrounds in 2012 by Purdue Extension-Marion County staff and Master Gardener volunteers. The demonstration garden features annual flowers and vegetables.
In 2013, the Purdue Extension-Marion County Demonstration Garden became an official All-America Selections (AAS) Flower and Vegetable Display Garden. It is the only AAS Display Garden in Indianapolis and one of the half-dozen in Indiana.
The demonstration garden is 350 feet east of Discovery Hall, where the Purdue Extension-Marion County office is. This is in the northwest corner of the Indiana State Fairgrounds, 1202 E. 38th St., Indianapolis, IN 46205. There is no charge to view the garden or to park at the garden entrance (except during the State Fair). For directions or more information on the garden, call 317-275-9290 or e-mail demonstrationgarden@indyhorticulture.org.
About PEMC
Purdue Extension Marion County provides relevant and research-based educational services to Marion County residents and organizations who share our passion for building young leaders, creating strong families and healthy communities, developing profitable businesses and trusted employees, and growing a vibrant natural environment.
Purdue Extension Marion County serves all areas of Indianapolis and Marion County. This includes the over 900,000 residents who live in the 396 square miles of the consolidated city/county.
About AAS
All-America Selections is a non-profit organization founded in 1932 to anonymously test new plants for home gardening. They utilize a network of 90+ volunteer judges in over 50 trials grounds across North America to rate entries against comparisons. AAS then uses an active publicity program to promote the best performers that are declared AAS Winners.
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For more Demonstration Garden imagery, visit this folder.
Kori Smith, smith6758@purdue.edu, 317-275-9252