Grower News

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 operation a difficult question to answer. It’s a tough question for consumers, too, who want something that will thrive and look beautiful in a pot on their back patio or in their landscape. Fortunately, trial gardens are here to help fill in the knowledge gap. Run, organized and staffed by trial managers who track every little 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 our 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 and best overall performance: perennial. On the following pages, you’ll find the results from the best overall performance: annual category. All of the descriptions have been submitted by the various trial garden managers. The full results — including pictures — are available online here . All photos courtesy of respective trial gardens Trial Garden Managers Sinclair Adam , Penn State University Extension Bernadette Clark , North Carolina State University Jessica Cloninger, Boerner Botanical Gardens (Wisconsin) Brandon Coker, University of Georgia Tyler Duncan, Mast Young Plants (Michigan) Rachel Gooder, Plantpeddler (Iowa) Melissa Maguire, Smith Gardens (Washington) Greg Michalak, Raker-Roberta’s Trial Gardens (Michigan) Rachel Prescott, Sam Schmitz and Ron Freund, The Gardens at Ball (Illinois) Penny Merritt-Price, Young’s Plant Farm (Alabama) Laura Robles, Walters Gardens (Michigan) David Staats, Colorado State University Southeast Best Overall Performance Annuals 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 […]

Source: www.gardencentermag.com