“And the award goes to….”
The best in performance, heat, drought, pollinators
Worth a Look: 2023 Trial Standouts from Greenhouse Management
A comprehensive list of the standouts from the 2023 trials around the country.
Watchlist 2024 – ‘Where to Find Them’
Northwest Summer Trials, August 2023
In August, we attended flower trials at Smith Gardens and Fessler Nursery.
Smith Gardens plants in raised beds so that you can see growth habit, vigor, heat tolerance, etc… Smith’s trial labels list the plant date.
Fessler Nursery labels varieties, but not planting dates; tubs with flags are new varieties for 2024. Fessler usually plants trial tubs at the end of May/early June, but it’s necessary to cut things back once or twice before the event date in August. Keep that in mind when judging plant habit.
At Fessler, we were lucky to have an overcast, muggy day (still in the 90s), which allowed for much better photos.
Photos of our Faves from both Trials
Looking for more inspiration?
We took photos of the combos and their labels from the Fessler trials (there are 1 or 2 shots from Smith Gardens). If you have any questions about a photo, please email us here.
Flower combos at Fessler Trials
Fessler Open House & Trials
Smith Garden Trials
New 2024 PW varieties at Smith Gardens
Trials around the Country
Penn State Flower Trials
Click under Trial Results after welcome page for searchable database.
A thorough, easy-to navigate site with broad search capabilities
Colorado State Flower Trial Gardens
An extensive site of trial results. Not every category has results from 2023. Photo library.
Raker Trial Gardens
Raker-Roberta’s Trial Garden in Lansing, MI. Easy to navigate and searchable by variety/genus.
Plant Peddler Trials
Midwest focused plant trial, 1500+ varieties
Not so much of a data base, more of a collection of photos and videos of top performing varieties.
Lots of photos and videos.
Variety Day 2023 & Top 25 Results
Variety Day Full Video Release