Alexis Nikole Nelson testifies at Columbus pollinator gardens hearing
Alexis Nikole Nelson, a Columbus resident, spoke at a Columbus City Council committee meeting April 30, 2025, in favor of changing city code to allow residents to grow pollinator gardens.
The judges gave Brenda Rushin top honors in the 2025 Dispatch Backyard Garden Awards.
The hummingbirds, butterflies, bees and a hawk she spotted this summer give her backyard oasis in Grove City pretty high marks, too.
Rushin, who has won and placed in the native plants category of past annual competitions at the Central Ohio Home & Design Show, was named Best of Show winner for 2025 at the event in early September. It’s the culmination of 20 years of work — not that any gardeners call it work — on a project that’s not done yet.
“There’s everything out there,” she said. “I keep making it bigger and better.”
The native species in Rushin’s garden include wild senna, prairie and purple coneflowers, hoary skullcap, mountain mint, blue vervain, giant hyssop, blue sage, pink tall phlox, boneset, black eyed susans, wingstem and cup plants. She has added birdbaths, feeders and houses, as well as a solar bubbler fountain that she said the bees and the wasps sip from.
A gravel path around the beds and seating all over give access to the creator of the space.
As the Best of Show winner, Rushin received a $500 gift card to Ohio Mulch, the presenting sponsor of the Backyard Garden Awards. The winners of other categories each received $400 gift cards.
Best Home Landscaping
First place: “Zen~Bloom~Oasis,” by Trisha Jones, Columbus. Jones’ calm yet colorful backyard features hydrangeas accented by honey and orange supertunias, helichrysum petiolare, capitata maroon spikes, lemon glow lantana, yellow and orange poppies, and soft orange coneflower.
Second place: “Senior Swingset,” by Ingrid White, Columbus. A large porch swing sits among westland rose, white clematis and sweet peas that grow on the frame. Arborvitae lend privacy and provide bird habitat, while honeysuckles, azaleas and burgundy crepe myrtles cover the back fence.
Best Community Garden
First place: Burr Oak Community Garden, Delaware. About 15 to 20 volunteers help plan, plant, water and tend to four raised beds. They grow a lot in a small space: tomatoes, lettuce, herbs, cantaloupe, pumpkins, zucchini, radishes, carrots, sugar peas, peppers and flowers.
Second place: Saint Andrews Christian Church, Dublin. Members of Scouts of America Troop 7332 worked toward their gardening merit badges by tending to the vegetables and herbs, all of which were donated to the Help My Neighbor pantry in Northwest Columbus.
Best Container Garden
First place: “Long Patio Container,” by Andrea Alexis, Marysville. Two 8-foot containers were planted with canna, red coleus, various colors of wave petunias, calibrachoa and sweet potato vine.
Second place: “Grumman Porch Planters,” by Susan Grumman, Columbus. Three copper pots in different shapes were filled with plants of different textures in a red and green palette.
Best Native Plants
First place: “Howard’s Hideaway,” by Amanda Howard, Marion. Howard said she spent three summers removing all the grass from her city lot to create a sanctuary for family and wildlife. The latter have helped increase the total count of native plants and native cultivars to more than 60 varieties.
Second place: “Jaci’s Pollinator Paradise,” by Jacilyn Wood, Marysville. Pollinators love the mostly native purple coneflowers, prairie coneflowers, black-eyed susans, coreopsis, blanket flower, flea bane, asters, sunflowers, flax, milkweed, fennel, parsleys, catmint, salvia and more.
Best Perennial Garden
First place: “Moon Garden,” by Ingrid White, Columbus. White, who placed second in the home landscaping category, won with a green and white, layered and fragrant perennial garden of little lime hydrangea, clethra, sedum and Japanese forest grass.
Second place: “Backyard Garden,” by Teresa Imhoff, Sunbury. Penstemon, crocosmia lucifer, little redhead, Indian pink and bee balm make a favorite spot for hummingbirds.
Best Vegetable Garden
First place: “Home Produce Garden,” by Kathleen Bruns, Blacklick. The garden produces vegetables in all seasons. There’s leaf lettuce, peas and radishes in early spring, followed by hot and mild peppers, tomatoes, garlic, green beans, kale, chard and more in late spring. Herbs provide additional pollinator attraction. Lettuce and peas are planted again for fall eating and carrots are harvested for winter.
Second place: “Papa Joe’s Garden,” by Joe Cermak, Frazeysburg. Eighty tomato plants, 40 pepper plants, green beans, lettuce, watermelon, zucchini, cucumbers, butternut squash and kohlrabi grow in this 70-by-40-foot plot. Cermak said he spends 10 to 15 hours maintaining it all.
Bob Vitale can be reached at rvitale@dispatch.com or at @dispatchdining on the Instagram social platform.
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