Golden Streets Beautifies Central Business District with More Than 260 Pollinator-Friendly
Tree Box Gardens and Two Pollinator Habitats

Pollinator-friendly gardens have popped up all over downtown DC thanks to a partnership between The Golden Triangle Business Improvement District (BID) and Smithsonian Gardens for this year’s Golden Streets tree box landscaping design contest. The gardens incorporate plants such as milkweed, beebalm and coneflower that are beneficial to a wide range of pollinators from beetles to birds and butterflies. Today the BID announced the contest winners and celebrated the partnership with Smithsonian Gardens in a kick off and awards ceremony.

The 2019 Golden Streets winners are:

• Best in Design: The Brawner Company, 888 17th Street NW

Description: An alluring garden with a variety of pollinator plants and an impactful use of color, height and texture and handwritten signs with educational messages.

Plants used: Sunflowers, petunias, cosmos, zinnias, angelonia, gomphrena, impatiens, salvia, butterfly bush, lantana, black-eyed Susan vine (thunbergia), gazania, sage, dichondra, calibrachoa, black-eyed Susan -evergreen boxwood and false cypress.

• Best in Sustainability: Rockrose Development Corp, 1900 M Street NW

Description: A beautiful garden filled with perennial plants that will have long lasting blooms for pollinators.

Plants used: Milkweed, beebalm, shasta daisy, coreopsis, black-eyed Susan, blanket flower, coneflower (Echinacea) and boxwood.

• Best New Entry: Cushman & Wakefield, 1999 K Street NW

Description: A vibrant garden with high impact color choices that incorporates water features to benefit pollinators.

Plants used: A vast array of plants — from tropicals such as cannas to annuals such as zinnias and salvia.

• Best Tiny Tree Box: Tishman Speyer, 1717 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Description: A grand garden in a tiny tree box with an appealing combination of pollinator-friendly plants.
Plants used: Coneflower (echinacea), creeping Jenny and lavender.

The second-place winners are:

• Best in Design: WashREIT, 1627 I Street, NW
• Best in Sustainability: Blake Real Estate, 1730 Rhode Island Avenue, NW
• Best Tiny Tree Box: Tishman Speyer, 1775 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Winners were selected by a panel of expert judges including:

• James Gagliardi, Supervisory Horticulturist, Smithsonian Gardens
• Luis Marmol, Horticulturist, Dumbarton Oaks
• Amelia Draper, Meteorologist, NBC4

Hosted by the BID since 2011, Golden Streets is a landscaping design contest for buildings located in the central business district. This year, the Golden Triangle partnered with Smithsonian Gardens to present the theme Pollinator Habitat and related programming. Smithsonian Gardens also installed pollinator habitats in Longfellow and Monroe Parks, extending the Smithsonian-wide exhibition Habitat into the Golden Triangle neighborhood.

“We want to thank all companies who have participated this year,” said Leona Agouridis, Executive Director of the Golden Triangle BID. “By creating urban gardens with pollinator-friendly plants in more than 260 tree boxes, Golden Streets is not only beautifying the central business district with lush landscaping designs, it is also contributing to the environmental sustainability of the neighborhood. Greening our public spaces and being a leader in urban sustainability is integral to the mission of the Golden Triangle BID.”

“We were delighted to partner with the Golden Triangle BID on the Golden Streets contest to feature the theme Pollinator Habitat,” said James Gagliardi, Supervisory Horticulturist at Smithsonian Gardens. “The habitats we installed in the parks and the many pollinator-friendly tree box gardens across the neighborhood will educate and inspire the people that pass these gardens to take similar action to create spaces that help protect our pollinators.”

As part of the partnership with the BID for the Golden Streets contest, Smithsonian Gardens will also present the following programming:

• June 28, 12 p.m., Farragut Park (Connecticut Ave & K Street)

Terrific Tillandsia & Superb Succulents presented by Smithsonian Gardens at the Golden Triangle BID’s daylong outdoor experience, Farragut Fridays.

• July 12, 7:30 p.m., Farragut Park (Connecticut Ave & K Street)

Create your own flower crown, then watch Mary Poppins Returns at the BID’s free outdoor movie program, Golden Cinema.

• September 6, 12 p.m., Farragut Park (Connecticut Ave & K Street)

Learn about pollinators and other insects from Smithsonian Gardens and create an insect habitat with your own Bug B&B at the Golden Triangle BID’s daylong outdoor experience, Farragut Fridays.

• September 13, 12 p.m., Renwick Gallery (1661 Pennsylvania Ave, NW)

Enjoy a nature walk with Renwick artist Michael Sherrill, Golden Triangle BID, and Smithsonian Gardens and explore the landscaping in the Golden Triangle neighborhood.

About the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District

Formed in 1998, the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District (BID) works to enhance Washington, DC’s central business district, the 43-square-block neighborhood stretching from The White House to Dupont Circle. Home to more than 6,000 businesses, the BID’s primary focus is to provide a clean, safe, and vibrant environment for hundreds of thousands of area workers and residents, and millions of visitors, and to encourage economic development through capital improvement projects, public art, sustainability and events programs. For more information please visit: https://goldentriangledc.com/ and connect on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

About Smithsonian Gardens

Since its inception in 1972, Smithsonian Gardens has extended the Smithsonian’s museum experience in a public garden setting, inspiring visitors with exceptional displays and educating them about horticulture, plants, the natural and build environments and artistic design. Its research and educational programs promote the ongoing development of collections of living plants, garden documentation and horticultural artifacts. Smithsonian Gardens is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. For more information, visit the Smithsonian Gardens website.