See latest plants at Trial Garden open house
The 2014 version of the Trial Garden at Landscape Ontario will be home to an open house on August 21. The garden features plants from major growers that haven’t hit the market, providing an opportunity to view up close how the annuals and perennials perform.
Once again, new and tried and true annuals and perennials and roses will be on display for evaluation and perusal at jointly operated Landscape Ontario and University of Guelph trial beds at LO’s home office in Milton.
The open house in Milton runs from 9 a.m. to noon and then at the Guelph Turfgrass Institute in Guelph from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
When coming to this year’s open house, feel free to bring along your greenhouse grower or client, so you can discuss plant options and get new ideas.
There will be a short speaker program in the morning. Tours of the trial garden will immediately follow the speaker program. The finalized schedule will be available in early August.
Both trial sites are open during business hours to allow you to view plant performance throughout the season.
This year displays include an extensive planting of New Guinea and hybrid impatiens and sample plantings of Rex begonias and other begonia types, to demonstrate the potential of these plants as alternatives for Impatiens walleriana in shade situations. There is also a a small sample planting testing three gerbera cultivars in the landscape, and a bed highlighting new releases of vegetables from Syngenta with potential for urban applications
The Proven Winners display bed highlights new releases from this company, including new cleome, lobularia and euphorbia, while the Goldsmith Seeds display bed has new releases of petunias, violas, cuphea, gazania and pelargoniums. The Pelargonium bed is primarily a display of new, vegetatively propagated Pelargoniums (geraniums) and the petunia bed shows exciting new colours of both seed and vegetatively propagated petunias. There is also a perennial display with new additions from Jelitto Seeds and Proven Winners. The extensive calibrachoa display is featured in large planter boxes. There is also a drought tolerant annuals display bed.
As part of the trial garden open house, an Ontario Parks Association competition will allow municipal parks staff to showcase their talents, and it won’t take a lot of effort or cost anything to participate. All you have to do is complete a form and submit a photo of your favourite median planting, container or hanging basket garden, small garden display, medium or large garden display, or floral art display.
Stay tuned to the Landscape Ontario website or enews, or the Ontario Parks Association website or eblasts for details about the judging criteria and how to submit an entry for this contest, or alternatively contact Shelley May, OPA Office Manager, at 905-864-6182, ext. 6710, or shelley@ontarioparksassociation.ca.
Contact Rodger Tschanz, Manager of the Trial Gardens, at rtschanz@uoguelph.ca with any questions about the open houses, or if interested in participating in some way with the trial garden program.