International Garden Festival 2025
The International Garden Festival is seeking creative designers for the 26th edition of its event, set to open on June 20, 2025, at Les Jardins de Métis | Reford Gardens. This year’s theme, “BORDERS,” explores the idea of partitioning and redefining spaces, challenging designers to reflect on how borders—both visible and intangible—shape our environments. The theme encourages participants to explore borders as entities that separate, connect, and transform, allowing for the creation of garden spaces that transcend traditional boundaries.
Theme: BORDERS
Borders define, separate, and partition spaces, granting each area a distinct identity. They differentiate inside from outside, digital from analog, and landscape from geography. While borders can be fixed and rigid, they can also be fluid, porous, and open to interpretation. The 2025 Festival calls on designers to rethink the concept of borders in a post-colonial context, creating garden environments that challenge conventional ideas and foster new interactions between gardens, landscapes, and visitors.
Eligibility and Participation
The competition is open to landscape architects, architects, visual artists, and multidisciplinary teams from Canada and around the world. The Festival encourages the formation of teams that cross disciplinary and geographical boundaries, allowing diverse perspectives to influence the garden designs. Participants may submit only one proposal, either individually or as part of a team. Designers are expected to develop gardens that can be showcased for at least two summers and include plans for repurposing or recycling materials once the exhibition concludes.
Site and Exhibition
Designers will have the opportunity to create gardens that align with the Festival’s axes, with site selection conducted in collaboration with the artistic and technical committee. The goal is to ensure that each garden is situated in a location that best enhances its thematic expression and interaction with visitors.
Submission Deadline
Proposals must be submitted electronically by MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2024, at 17:00 EST. Late submissions will not be considered. This is an opportunity for designers to showcase their creativity and contribute to a renowned international event, redefining garden design in a unique and thought-provoking way.
Finally, find out more on ArchUp:
