A trial garden is a type of garden grown specifically for the purpose of testing and evaluating plants. Universities, plant breeders, and garden-industry companies frequently have trial gardens, as do many private and public botanical gardens and professional garden journalists. In the classic trials model, newly developed varieties of plants are compared with the closest similar industry standard plant throughout their life cycle—from germination/propagation through maturity, from seed to harvest. By growing new varieties side-by-side with existing ones, researchers can determine whether these new varieties are indeed better, and, if so, in what respects.
Any gardener might enjoy creating their own trial garden to see which plants fare best in a specific garden environment. Most trials programs are very formal, with scientific designs including random replicated plots to minimise any risk of bias due to placement of plants. The volunteer judges evaluate entries for desirable qualities such as novel flower forms, flower colors, flower show above foliage, fragrance, length of flowering season, and disease or pest tolerances or resistance. Vegetables are judged looking for such traits as speed to harvest, total yield, fruit taste, fruit quality, ease of harvest, plant habit, disease, and pest resistance.
Testing organisations
All-America Selections (AAS). Coordinates trial gardens in more than 40 locations across the United States and Canada.
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the culinary sense are strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, white currants, blackcurrants, and redcurrants. In Britain, soft fruit is a horticultural term for such fruits.
The blackcurrant, also known as black currant or cassis, is a deciduous shrub in the family Grossulariaceae grown for its edible berries. It is native to temperate parts of central and northern Europe and northern Asia, where it prefers damp fertile soils. It is widely cultivated both commercially and domestically.
Horticulture is the art and science of growing plants. This definition is seen in its etymology, which is derived from the Latin words hortus, which means "garden" and cultura which means "to cultivate". There are various divisions of horticulture because plants are grown for a variety of purposes. These divisions include, but are not limited to: gardening, plant production/propagation, arboriculture, landscaping, floriculture and turf maintenance. For each of these, there are various professions, aspects, tools used and associated challenges; Each requiring highly specialized skills and knowledge of the horticulturist.
Santalum acuminatum, the desert quandong, is a hemiparasitic plant in the sandalwood family, Santalaceae, which is widely dispersed throughout the central deserts and southern areas of Australia. The species, especially its edible fruit, is also commonly referred to as quandong or native peach. The use of the fruit as an exotic flavouring, one of the best known bush tucker, has led to the attempted domestication of the species.
The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions.
The garden strawberry is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus Fragaria in the rose family, Rosaceae, collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. This is appreciated for its aroma, bright red color, juicy texture, and sweetness. It is eaten either fresh or in prepared foods such as jam, juice, pies, ice cream, milkshakes, and chocolates. Artificial strawberry flavorings and aromas are widely used in commercial products. Botanically, the strawberry is not a berry but an aggregate accessory fruit; each apparent 'seed' on the outside of the strawberry is actually an achene, a botanical fruit with a seed inside it.
Hippophae rhamnoides, also known as sea-buckthorn, is a species of flowering plant in the family Elaeagnaceae, native to the cold-temperate regions of Europe and Asia. It is a spiny deciduous shrub. The plant is used in the food and cosmetics industries, in traditional medicine, as animal fodder, in horticulture, and for ecological purposes.
The Michigan State University Horticulture Gardens are horticultural gardens, with a landscape arboretum, located on Bogue Street on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing, Michigan. The gardens are open to the public daily without charge.
This is an alphabetical index of articles related to gardening.
Lonicera caerulea, also known by its common names blue honeysuckle, sweetberry honeysuckle, fly honeysuckle, blue-berried honeysuckle, or the honeyberry, is a non-climbing honeysuckle native throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere regions of North America, Europe, and Asia.
Ulmus 'New Horizon' is an American hybrid cultivar raised by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), from a crossing of the Japanese Elm clone W43-8 = 'Reseda' with Siberian Elm clone W426 grown from seed collected from a street tree at Yankton, South Dakota. As selection 'W917' it is a sibling of 'Rebona'. Tested in the US National Elm Trial coordinated by Colorado State University, 'New Horizon' averaged a survival rate of 74% after 10 years. 'New Horizon' was patented in the US in 1994, while in Europe, it is marketed as one of the 'Resista' elms protected under EU breeders' rights.
All-America Selections (AAS) is an American organization which tests new varieties of seed for use in gardening, and promotes those judged to perform best through an awards scheme. The testing program involves horticulture professionals.
The American elm cultivar Ulmus americana 'American Liberty' is in fact a group of six genetically distinct cultivars under a single name, although they are superficially similar. The Liberty elm is reportedly suitable for street planting, being tolerant of de-icing salts and air pollution. However, examples included in 10-year trials at Atherton, California to evaluate replacements for Californian elms lost to disease did not perform well. The late Professor Eugene Smalley summarized 'American Liberty' as "not as resistant as the Asian hybrids, but it still has the look of a classic American Elm".
Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section Cyanococcus within the genus Vaccinium. Commercial blueberries—both wild (lowbush) and cultivated (highbush)—are all native to North America. The highbush varieties were introduced into Europe during the 1930s.
Cut flowers are flowers and flower buds that have been cut from the plant bearing it. It is removed from the plant for decorative use. Cut greens are leaves with or without stems added to the cut flowers for contrast and design purposes. These displays improve the quality of the human environment.
The Kentville Research and Development Centre (formerly Atlantic Food and Horticulture Research Centre) is a branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's national network of 20 research centres stationed across Canada. The site is situated on 464 acres in Kentville, located in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. The Centre's programs address agricultural challenges throughout the Canadian horticultural and food network, but primarily focus on the regional requirements of Atlantic Canada. On September 2, 2003, the centre's staff was recognized by Environment Canada for providing a volunteer climate observation station for a continuous 70 years. On January 26, 2011, and in honour of their centennial celebration, the centre was bestowed with an honorary membership to the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers Association in recognition of the centre's development and support of a sustainable tree fruit industry in Atlantic Canada.
The Celebrity tomato cultivar is a hybrid (biology) that produces long fruit-bearing stems holding 20 or more very plump, robust tomatoes. Fruits weigh approximately 8 oz., and are 4 inches across. Plants need caging or staking, and produce fruit throughout the growing season. The celebrity tomato is a cultivar of the species Solanum lycopersicum. It is a crossbreed of the common tomato that is widely used for various culinary purposes. This tomato is of great size and is known to be resistant to most tomato diseases such as Fusarium wilt, Verticillium wilt, Tobacco mosaic virus and Root-knot nematode due to its hybrid nature. Celebrity tomatoes are highly adaptive to harsh environments and can grow in a wide range of places including dry, humid and wet regions. They are resistant to cracking and splitting which usually occurs when there is an excess of water and sugar movement in the fruits. Therefore, causing the tomato skin to grow at a slower rate compared to the expansion of the fruit. They can survive in harsh uneven rainfall. However, they are highly susceptible to colder environments and are at a higher risk of dying in regions with short growing seasons. The plants can grow up to 5 feet in height with bright red medium-sized fruits. The plants are generally very thick and grow in clusters. The tomato fruits are mostly used in the making of various salsas, salads, juices and canned food.
Regional Agricultural Research Station, Pattambi is a research Station under the Central Zone of Kerala Agricultural University at Pattambi in Palakkad district of Kerala, India.
The Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) is an autonomous organization acting as a nodal agency for basic, strategic, anticipatory and applied research on various aspects of horticulture such as fruits, vegetable, ornamental, medicinal and aromatic plants and mushrooms in India. The institute has its headquarters in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India and is a subsidiary of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, under the Ministry of Agriculture, India. It recently has been ranked 1st for the combined years 2019-20 and 2020–21 by the ICAR.
The American Garden Rose Selections (AGRS) is an annual award sponsored by the American rose industry to acknowledge and recommend outstanding rose varieties for different regions of the United States. AGRS replaced the long-established All-America Rose Selections, which was discontinued after 2012. AGRS's first annual award was introduced in 2016. The AGRS selection process involves rose trials in multiple regional test gardens throughout the U.S. Promising rose varieties are grown and evaluated multiple times a year for two years. Only 4% of all the roses tested in the program are selected for the AGRS award.
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