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Big Idea:
Plant breeders are continually improving plants so we, as gardeners, can have better success with them! The Trial Garden can give you a preview of new or improved cultivars for our area.
We are privileged that The Trial Garden is one of only 30 test sites for Proven Winners annuals in the U.S. and the only volunteer OR Master Gardener group allowed to do so. It takes about 6 years to test out new plants, and the last step is growing them in the trial test sites around the country. If they perform well, the new ones are introduced the next year. Only 3% of all the test plants make it to the market. Each year we get about 35-48 different kinds of plants, with about ½ being new ones that will not be released until the next year. The other ones are previously introduced plants for comparison.
Master Gardener volunteers trial or “test out” different annuals each year. These trials help the company decide whether to market the plants, based on their performance in various areas of the country. We grow them in our greenhouse, make designs “on a blank slate” for the 5 Trials areas around the Shed and in Theme Garden Trials Containers, and then do monthly detailed evaluations and ratings. The evaluations include bloom coverage, disease and insect damage, detailed comments, and an overall rating (a “5” means - “Oh, my gosh, I must try this out in my garden next year!”; a “1” means - “This looks miserable.”).
These evaluations and photos are then sent to Proven Winners at the end of the growing season, and we share our information with the public online and through lectures. We have partnered with plant companies as a Trials Site since 2001 and in no way endorse a specific company.
