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Downtown’s Colorful Streets competition brings quirky designs to street corners

The Golden Triangle’s tree boxes are in full bloom and are looking better than ever

By Michelle Goldchain
This design, “Sunburst,” is located at 1900 M Street NW.
Photo courtesy of Golden Triangle BID

Every year, the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District (BID) does their best to bring extra doses of color to the 43-square-block central business district that stretches from the White House to Dupont Circle. One of their most recent efforts was their annual Golden Streets competition, which engaged local businesses to beautify their neighboring tree boxes with lush and vibrant plants and flowers.

19 buildings participated with the competition’s theme, “Hot, Hot, Hot.” This year’s judges included NBC4 Meteorologist Chuck Bell, Smithsonian Institution Horticulturalists Alex Dencker and James Gagliardi, Editor and Publisher of Washington Gardener Magazine Kathryn Jentz, and Dumbarton Oaks Gardener Luis Marmol.

Below, see the winners of this year’s competition.

The Best Design winner, “Oasis in a Concrete Jungle,” is located at 1900 K Street NW.
Photo courtesy of Golden Triangle BID
The Best in Sustainability winner, “Flight of the Bumblebees,” is located at 1025 Connecticut Avenue NW.
Photo by Michelle Goldchain

Now, a full list of the participating entries with an accompanying map:

  • 1150 Connecticut Avenue NW, “Good Vibrations I”
  • 1120 Connecticut Avenue NW, “Good Vibrations II”
  • 1211 Connecticut Avenue NW, “Tropical Paradise”
  • 1250 Connecticut Avenue NW, “Ring of Fire”
  • 1145 17th Street NW, “Blazing Hot”
  • 1025 Connecticut Avenue NW, “Flight of the Bumblebees”
  • 900 17th Street NW, “Like a Heat Wave”
  • 800 17th Street NW, “Red Hot Chili Peppers”
  • 1750 H Street NW, “Wonders of Nature”
  • 1776 I Street NW, “Tickled Pink”
  • 1899 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, “1899 Penn Fierce Inferno Desire”
  • 1900 K Street NW, “Oasis in the Concrete Jungle”
  • 2055 L Street NW, “Fire and Rain”
  • 1901 L Street NW, “Feverishly Fantastic”
  • 1140 19th Street NW, “Hawaiian Sunrise”
  • 1146 19th Street NW, “The Heat Is On”
  • 1900 M Street NW, “Sunburst”
  • 1150 18th Street NW, “Fanciful Spring”
  • 1801 K Street NW, “Some Like It Hot”
The map of every tree box participant in the Golden Streets 2017 competition.
Image via Golden Triangle BID

Interested in seeing last year’s winners? Check out this Curbed DC article.

Photo courtesy of Golden Triangle BID

• Golden Streets 2017 [Golden Triangle BID]

• The Most Beautiful Tree Boxes in the Golden Triangle [Curbed DC]

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