Grower News

Trial garden managers from across the country share standout perennials and annuals that you can buy this year. Subscribe Photo courtesy of Smith Gardens Every plant trial is different. Each trial garden has different weather conditions, sunlight levels, water needs and other factors that make each location unique. That can make knowing which plants are best to grow at your local greenhouse or wholesaler a difficult question to answer. It’s also a tough question for you when deciding what plants to include in a design or where to place them in a customer’s landscape. Fortunately, trial gardens are here to help fill in the knowledge gap. Run, organized and staffed by trial managers who track every detail of every plant in their gardens, trial gardens help growers understand new varieties of annuals and perennials. They also test for different attributes like pollinator friendliness and drought tolerance, and note which plants have the “wow” factor consumers are looking for. For these 2019 compilation of trial garden results, managers from across the U.S. submitted what performed best in their region in the following eight categories: best drought-tolerant annual; best drought-tolerant perennial; best pollinator-friendly annual; best pollinator-friendly perennial; best heat-tolerant annual; best heat-tolerant perennial; best overall performance: annual; best overall performance: perennial. Here, you’ll find the results for each of these categories. All of the descriptions have been submitted by the various trial garden mangers. Best Overall Performance Southeast Calibrachoa Superbells ‘Honeyberry,’ Proven Winners, University of Georgia Yep, I’m smitten with this plant and who wouldn’t be? I love that it has abundant pink flowers with honey-colored throats. It has remained perfectly shaped despite rain, shine, heat and humidity. Nothing phased ‘Honeyberry,’ which decidedly takes my top spot for annuals for 2019. Caladium Bottle Rocket, Classic Caladiums, Young’s Plant Farm The colors of Bottle Rocket caladium are phenomenal. This caladium has everything: dark red, crisp white and bright green. This is a large fancy-leafed variety that just got better in the heat of the summer. It was really a standout in the Young’s Trial Garden. Helianthus ‘Suncredible Yellow,’ Proven Winners, North Carolina […]

Source: www.lawnandlandscape.com