Gardens; spaces where landscaping and art complement each other in public spaces: Container gardens and floral arches at FYJA 2025

Find out with Alejandra Roldán and the team Landuum how art and nature intertwine in each intervention to transform public spaces into sensory experiences that inspire, educate, and connect with the future from the roots, in her article: Gardens, spaces where landscaping and art complement each other in public spaces: Container gardens and floral arches at FYJA 2025. 

A playful space is one that enables recreation, leisure, and enjoyment within the community, and in many cases also serves an educational purpose by encouraging learning and curiosity through dynamic design and interactive elements. In landscape architecture, its presence is essential in gardens, parks, and green areas, especially in urban contexts, where it contributes to collective well-being and social development.

This past April, the FYJA Festival of Flowers and Gardens held its sixth edition, “Gardens of the Future.” FYJA began in 2017 with the goal of connecting Mexicans with nature through garden design in public spaces and by promoting the work of landscape architects to reclaim these areas within the city. Among its most notable activities over the years are the revitalization of the Chapultepec Forest Botanical Garden, the Festival in the Field at the gardens of Campo Marte and of course, Polanco en Flores.

This year, FYJA 2025, in addition to the traditional floral facades along Avenida Presidente Masaryk, presented an exhibition of container gardens and an exhibition of floral arches, the FYJA Pavilion by Carlos Amorales, as well as talks at the Galería Torre del Reloj and workshops at both the Casa Cultural Nelson Mandela and CASA FYJA.

Thanks to the kind and valuable invitation from the festival’s founder, Patricia Elías Calles Romo, Landuum Paisaje Magazine was present at the talks at Galería Torre del Reloj, and we also had the chance to explore the container gardens and floral arches created by landscape architects and landscape architecture students in Parque América, Polanco.

In a city, gardens are one of the first steps toward sustainability and the recognition of ecology’s importance in the context of today’s climate change. Moreover, the container gardens introduced by these landscape designers represented a way to preserve nature, art, and culture.

Under the theme “Gardens of the Future,” each garden’s concept was developed. Much like art, gardens evoke different emotions and meanings depending on the viewer’s perspective. The teams and design studios took on the role of artists, crafting abstract concepts to shape their gardens.

As with art, gardens evoke different emotions and meanings depending on the eye of the beholder.

It is rewarding to see how art can also be expressed through plant-based design, placing each plant while envisioning its interaction with others, with the user who comes into contact with it, and with the ephemeral elements that enrich the experience of the artistic piece.

For the container gardens, we witnessed the work of the firm Baldío, who based on the challenges of inhabiting a city, demonstrated nature’s resilience through aesthetic and architectural concepts inspired by the 1970s. Meanwhile, the studio Dendro, with a radial garden and the theme of recycling, invited us to envision the future through the lens of knowledge inherited from the past, in support of biodiversity conservation.

Art as the foundation of culture: Alejandro Magallanes and Cristina Faesler reaffirmed art as a cultural cornerstone by preserving traditional ceramic techniques in garden design. Their garden highlighted artistic expression through the clay pots crafted by women artisans from Cuentepec, accompanied by music and the title “The Future Is Sung in Náhuatl.” Parcela Tepoztlán, with its symmetrical design and seemingly deteriorated plots, invited the public to reflect on the degradation of natural areas, even those still surrounded by nature itself.

Etnoflora Landscape Atelier and Devas Paisaje invited us to experience their gardens through the exploration of space using the human body, an essential element in art. Etnoflora’s garden, inspired by feminine wisdom, the use of Perlilla, and the goddess Tlazoltéotl, offered an amphitheater to express art through music and dance, while also encouraging a rethinking of public space. Devas Paisaje, in turn, proposed a sensory experience where textures, colors, scents, and the reflection in a mirror invited visitors to appreciate natural elements.

Taller de Paisaje Entorno, with a sculpture made of logs, plant materials, and stone, reflected on how we inhabit space and the aesthetic interactions between the artificial and the natural at various scales, encouraging dynamic exploration of the landscape. The team Semillas built three geodesic structures made of bamboo, presenting a poetic analogy of the Earth as a protective dome for nature.

As every year, the floral arches took center stage at FYJA. Students from various landscape and floral design schools presented these artistic structures inspired by visions of the future and nature. They captivated audiences with their diverse interpretations of what lies ahead: Is the future a return to the past, or a fusion between nature and technological materiality? Is the garden of the future a space for biodiversity research, or the adaptability of life itself to the planet’s transformations?

Is the future a return to the past, or a fusion between nature and technological materiality?

The artistic process behind these arches was complex, as each one tells a story about the future envisioned by landscape designers and floral artists. While the narrative is often read from left to right, starting at a different point can shift its meaning entirely.

From a leaf-covered robot and galactic flowers to the head of Quetzalcóatl, organic matter becomes a form of resistance to technological transformation, with henequen and amaranth, and of course, insects lighting the way toward an uncertain future. Some visions show a future of preservation, like that of the scarlet macaws; others, a future of natural and nutritional abundance, or even a utopia where technology and nature coexist in harmony.

How do you imagine the gardens of the future through the lens of art?

At Landuum, we believe that the future of sustainable gardens—with cultural, social, and artistic approaches—begins by giving visibility to, sharing, and promoting the work of all those who, with passion and dedication, care for nature, gardens, and flowers every day. We also recognize that public art not only enhances our surroundings but also awakens human sensitivity and self-awareness. Over time, this inner connection helps us relate with greater humanity to other living beings and to the natural world around us.

Thank you to Patricia Elías Calles, Monark PR, and the entire Festival de Flores y Jardines team for welcoming us to this wonderful event. For Landuum, it was an incredible opportunity that allowed us to keep moving forward in our shared mission: to promote landscape architecture and its environmental benefits in the city.

We are filled with joy knowing that the public had the chance to connect with our magazine, and that experts attending the talks at the Galería Torre del Reloj learned more about our work. We continue to champion landscape architecture as a powerful tool for positive change in the world.

Gardens in containers:

BALDÍO: Armando Maravilla, Arath Macías, Erlu Marem y Pabsi Salomé Cruz.

DENDRO: Javier Lázaro Cors , Ricardo Zermeño Torres y Mariana Amaré Mares.

DEVAS PAISAJE: Bibiana María Davó Sayrols, Miguel de la Torre, Fermin Espinosa, Marcelo Sanchez y Gamaliel Flores.

ETNOFLORA LANDSCAPE: María Teresa Egea Molinés, Karla Dalai Velasco Trujillo y Miguel Ángel Ordoñez.

​​PARCELA: Ana Lucia Coll, Armando Pandolfi, David Contreras, Georgina Gleason y Alexander Eaton.

TALLER DE PAISAJE ENTORNO: Tonatiuh Martínez Maldonado, Karen Cruz, Paulina Ayala, Armando Gómez y Diana Ávila.

EQUIPO JARDÍN: EL FUTURO SE CANTA EN NÁHUATL: Alejandro Magallanes y Cristina Faesler.

EQUIPO JARDÍN: SEMILLAS: Lucila Aguilar, Julio Martínez, B. Miguel Vargas, Adrián León Vázquez y Andrea Becerril.l

Floral arches: 

DISEÑO 9: Mtra. Leticia Baeza, Alejandra Torres, Angy Nájera, Cecilia Martínez, Cristina López, Gabriela González, Kenia Landgrave y Rodrigo Saavedra.

DISEÑO 9: Alumnos de DISEÑO 9. Students of DISEÑO 9.

EQUIPO: JARDINES DEL FUTURO: María José Benítez Gayou, Jessica Martell y Leonel Hernández.

FLORAL WORKSHOPS: Rocío Vidaña Gómez.

FLOWER SCHOOL MEXICO: Alexandra Solana Delaittre, Mónica de la Torre y Cinthya Ángeles Castillo.

POLYCARP FLOWERS: Daica Skrobala, Emily Yip, Leandro Espinales y Andrew Martínez. 

REBELIÓN EN EL JARDÍN: Alixe Yarelli Ortiz, Marlon Pérez Mejía, Abigail Vázquez, Ivana Selene Carrillo, Dulce María Ruiz, Linda Gabriela Quezada y Karla Fabiola Sánchez.

TAM FLORES: Anastasia Tarakanova y Vera Sokolova.

ZICTLI: María Fernanda Mercado Ocampo Paniagua, María José Benítez y Patricia Cardona.