When a brand new plant is barely trialed in a pot, you’ll be able to’t really see the way it reacts to real-life backyard circumstances. Or when all you need to go on as a grower is a packet of selling supplies, issues can go unsuitable. The next are a number of examples of how problematic vegetation can get onto retail nursery cabinets.

No floor trial 

This was a shade breakthrough with darkish pink flowers that made numerous gardeners and growers (me included) drool with plant lust. However it turned out that the hardiness ranking was overly optimistic. Fairly than being hardy to Zone 6 (–10°F), it was actually solely hardy to Zone 8 (10°F). Until growers tried to overwinter it for early spring gross sales or planted it in a floor trial, it may very well be years earlier than they knew it wasn’t hardy. Additionally, many hardy coreopsis die in winter from moist ft, so of us had been reticent to leap to the “not hardy” conclusion instantly, when in truth ‘Limerock Ruby’ was not reliably hardy beneath Zone 8. 

Restricted plant data

This child had a putting advertising and marketing picture that made the florets seem double. Early plant descriptions had been written based mostly on the picture, however it didn’t even have double blooms. Any ‘Tiara’ backyard phlox offered in spring wouldn’t bloom—singly—till summer time, stunning (or disappointing) the gardener.

Deceptive advertising and marketing language 

Advertising and marketing-speak is hard. As an illustration, it’s frequent to search out “immune to powdery mildew” in a plant description, however levels of resistance haven’t been established. Whereas “resistant” doesn’t imply “immune,” some entrepreneurs seem to make use of it as if it means, “No less than one different plant will get it worse than this one.”

Why gardeners typically get burned by new vegetation 

At its greatest, new means “higher,” however it will probably additionally imply “totally different” or simply “marketable.” Even when a plant is best in a technique, it may be flawed, typically fatally, in one other. It could be nice in a single part of the nation however poorly suited to yours. So how do vegetation that don’t carry out find yourself on the market on backyard middle benches? 

How plant propagation has modified

Way back, vegetation had been all grown from seeds, cuttings, or divisions by growers from their very own inventory. They knew the vegetation as a result of they lived with them yr in and yr out. They realized which had been hardy and extra illness resistant, how they grew, what cultural circumstances they wanted, and the way far you may push their limitations. However sustaining inventory is a ache within the neck (or decrease), and new merchandise and processes eliminated the necessity for it. Plug flats allowed for simpler delivery, which gave rise to specialist plug distributors who might ship to the growers simply. Unrooted slicing farms meant that growers might purchase in cuttings slightly than take their very own. 

The result’s that the majority growers not stay with their vegetation, so that they don’t know them as intimately as they used to. (Bareroot growers are the exception.) Now, growers largely lean on data supplied by plant breeders and entrepreneurs, who spotlight the promoting factors whereas downplaying (if mentioning in any respect) the weaknesses. Many growers do conduct plant trials, however these are sometimes pot trials solely. The business sells the vegetation in pots, so it doesn’t matter how properly a plant performs within the floor if it seems to be like scorching dying in a pot. Sadly, the alternative isn’t additionally true; there are various vegetation that look nice in a pot however carry out poorly within the floor. 

There may be a straightforward answer 

The answer is simple, fortunately—floor trials, ideally numerous them in order that outcomes will be in contrast. In the event you’re fascinated by visiting terrific in-ground trials, try the Chicago Botanic Backyard in Illinois and the Mt. Cuba Heart in Delaware. All-America Picks is now trialing vegetatively propagated perennials in websites throughout the nation, so you’ll be able to rely on vegetation that gained that award. In the event you’re within the Northeast, search for the Handpicked For You^® label; it’s a collaboration from 5 growers all trialing the identical vegetation in-ground to verify they carry out within the area.

Paul Westervelt is the annual and perennial manufacturing supervisor and director of latest plant analysis and improvement for Saunders Brothers, a wholesale nursery in Piney River, Virginia.