The Idea Garden annually receives donations of trial plants from seed and horticulture companies for evaluation during the growing season.
The Trial Plant Coordinator gets the donations, catalogs them, and places them in greenhouses until they can be moved into the Idea Garden. When these plants are brought out of the greenhouses (usually in May), the Trial Plant Coordinator arranges the designs of the trial planting beds and, if there are extra plants, distributes them to other Sections of the Idea Garden. To evaluate these plants properly, the Trial Plant Coordinator will ask Section Coordinators to plant them in multiples and label the plants.
When evaluations are completed, the Trial Plant Coordinator submits a report to the Master Gardeners and the donor companies.