Greater Akron garden designers go Hollywood at Great Big Home + Garden show
It takes some real creativity and a bit of Hollywood movie magic to pull off the Great Big Home + Garden Show gardens.
Designers − there are eight of them this year tasked with incorporating Hollywood movies − start with a bare concrete floor at the I-X Center in Cleveland and have just under two weeks to create a blissful backyard escape.
Great Big Home + Garden Show:Five things you need to know about the Great Big Home + Garden Show at I-X Center
This means installing some ingenious sub floor and planking to hold the weight of everything from a grand pavilion to fireplaces and even a kitchen sink.
And then there's the not-so-small matter of hauling in tons of soil for everything from water features to spring flowers to towering trees.
All of this in time for the expected 100,000 visitors to explore at the garden show that runs from Feb. 3 to 12.
Of the eight showcase gardens featured at this year's home and garden show, three of the designers are from Greater Akron.
Brothers Grimm Landscape & Design Co. win honors
Akron's Brothers Grimm Landscape & Design Co. won third place for best of show in the Great Big Home + Garden Show’s Garden Showcase for its "Ferris Bueller’s Day Off" theme.
The garden features a built-in pool, an outdoor kitchen, custom pavers, a large pavilion and pair of sunglasses just like Ferris Bueller wore in the movie.
Owner Jacob Grimm said his designers drew inspiration from Bueller's quote, “How could I possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this?” when coming up with the perfect backyard escape for the garden show.
"When want visitors to think 'How can I possibly be expected to handle work with a backyard like this,'" Grimm said.
It takes months of work ahead of the show designing and engineering the showcase garden.
"This is a lot like a movie set," he said. "It is here for two weeks then it is gone."
But the chance to have tens of thousands of people walk around and check out your company's work, Grimm said, is worth all of the effort.
"This is also a chance for us to flex our creative muscle," he said.
Natural Falls Construction
Natural Falls Construction of Copley Township befriends former outlaw William Munny for its Hollywood-inspired garden.
Using the movie "Unforgiven" as its backdrop, the landscape designers have recreated a Rocky Mountains setting where Munny contemplates his next move.
The garden features a bridge, rocks, a fire pit, along with trees and flowers to create a perfect escape.
Natural Falls Construction has been in business for about 30 years.
Kimmell's Premier Landscape
Wooster-based Kimmell's Premier Landscape scared up inspiration for its garden from the "Friday the 13th" movie.
Set in Camp Crystal Lake, the garden boasts paths that lead past a canoe, a water feature, a fire pit and assortment of evergreens, shrubs and flowering plants.
If you look closely, you might even spot Jason's famed hockey mask lurking about.
Other showcase gardens
The other showcase gardens include:
CK Stonescapes, of Fairport Harbor, with a theme of "The Secret Garden." This garden won best of show.
Maple Ridge Nursery and Garden Center, of Concord Township, with a theme of "Niagara."
Falling Waters Ohio, of Sheffield Village, with a theme of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
Ohio Landscape Association, of Broadview Heights, offers a showcase of the association's work.
Trinity Outdoor Solutions, of Westlake, with a theme of "Braveheart."
Craig Webb, whose garden theme would appropriately be the "Little Shop of Horrors" movie, can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Great Big Home and Garden Show: These 3 Akron designers are featured
