The Dispatch Backyard Garden Awards Recognize The Best In Central Ohio

The judges awarded Brenda Rushin top honors at the 2025 Dispatch Backyard Garden Awards.

The hummingbirds, butterflies, bees and a hawk she spotted this summer also give her Grove City backyard oasis high marks.

Rushin, who has won past annual Central Ohio Home & Design Show competitions and placed in the native plants category, was named the 2025 Best of Show winner at the event in early September. It's the culmination of 20 years of work – no gardener calls it work – on a project that's not yet finished.

“It’s all out there,” she said. “I keep making it bigger and better.”

Native species in Rushin's garden include wild senna, prairie and purple coneflower, gray skullcap, mountain mint, blue verbena, giant hyssop, blue sage, pink phlox, bonewort, black-eyed Susan, winged stem and calyx plants. She has added birdbaths, bird feeders and houses, as well as a solar fountain where she says the bees and wasps drink.

A gravel path around the beds and seating throughout provide access to the creator of the space.

As the Best of Show winner, Rushin received a $500 gift card to Ohio Mulch, the primary sponsor of the Backyard Garden Awards. The winners of the other categories each received $400 in gift cards.

Best Home Landscaping

First place: “Zen~Bloom~Oasis” by Trisha Jones, Columbus. Jones' tranquil but colorful backyard features hydrangeas with accents of honey and orange supertunias, Helichrysum petiolare, maroon capitata spikes, lemon-hot lantana, yellow and orange poppies and soft orange coneflowers.

Second place: “Senior Swingset” by Ingrid White, Columbus. A large porch swing sits among Westland roses, white clematis and sweet peas growing on the frame. Arborvitae provide privacy and provide habitat for birds, 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 maintain four raised beds. A lot grows in a small space: tomatoes, lettuce, herbs, melons, pumpkins, zucchini, radishes, carrots, sugar peas, peppers and flowers.

Second place: St Andrews Christian Church, Dublin. Members of Scouts of America Troop 7332 worked toward their gardening merit badges by tending to 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 colored wave petunias, calibrachoa and sweet potato vines.

Second place: “Grumman Porch Planters” by Susan Grumman, Columbus. Three copper pots of different shapes were filled with plants of different textures in a red and green color palette.

Best native plants

First place: Howard's Hideaway by Amanda Howard, Marion. Howard said she spent three summers clearing all the grass from her town property to create a sanctuary for family and wildlife. The latter have helped increase the total number of native plants and native varieties to over 60 varieties.

Second place: “Jacis Pollinator Paradise” by Jacilyn Wood, Marysville. Pollinators love the mostly native purple coneflower, prairie coneflower, black-eyed coneflower, coreopsis, blanketflower, psyllid, asters, sunflowers, flax, spurge, fennel, parsley, catnip, sage and more.

Best Perennial Garden

First place: “Moon Garden” by Ingrid White, Columbus. White, who took second place in the home landscaping category, won with a green-and-white, layered and fragrant perennial garden of small 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 are a favorite spot for hummingbirds.

Best vegetable garden

First place: “Home Produce Garden” by Kathleen Bruns, Blacklick. The garden produces vegetables in all seasons. Early spring features leafy lettuces, peas and radishes, followed by hot and mild peppers, tomatoes, garlic, green beans, kale, chard and more in late spring. Herbs provide additional attraction for pollinators. Lettuce and peas are replanted for fall consumption and carrots are harvested for winter.

Second place: “Papa Joe's Garden” by Joe Cermak, Frazeysburg. This 70-by-40-foot plot is home to 80 tomato plants, 40 pepper plants, green beans, lettuce, watermelon, zucchini, cucumbers, butternut squash and kohlrabi. Cermak said he spends 10 to 15 hours maintaining everything.

Bob Vitale can be reached at rvitale@dispatch.com or @dispatchdining on the social platform Instagram.

The Dispatch Backyard Garden Awards recognize the best in central Ohio