TBG TRIAL GARDENS

from Trellis magazine - Summer 2021

Seasonal Tips for Summer

Marvel 11 Gold African Marigold

TBG Trial Gardens Vote for Your Favourite Blooms this Summer By Veronica Sliva

Wouldn’t it be a treat if as a home gardener, you could visit a trial garden in a ‘real’ garden setting, and throughout the season check-in from time to time to see how these new introductions are coming along?

This season you will be able to do just that. And you can have your say and vote on your favourite plants too, thanks to a new and exciting partnership between the Toronto Botanical Garden and Ball Horticultural Company.

Plants go through years of breeding and testing before they end up for sale in garden centres. Before a plant variety goes to market breeders grow their introductions in trial gardens where information about a plant’s performance is gathered and analyzed to make sure it can thrive in our home gardens.

An Exciting New Partnership

Trial gardens are usually located on the grounds of universities or at a plant breeder’s property.

You typically see plants, not in a garden setting, but row on row grown either in the ground or in pots. The judges who evaluate the plants are usually industry personnel and not consumers. This summer, however, you will have a chance to register your preferences.

Spearheaded by Ball’s Tanya Carvalho, Territory Manager for Canada and Horticultural Specialist, A Blooms Story: From Breeder to Trial is an event that brings a trial garden like no other to the TBG. It involves a huge installation of recent plant introductions with some not even available yet. Over 65 plant varieties will be showcased in cutting-edge designs in the gardens. “We are looking forward to getting feedback from consumers and what they are looking for. By the end of June signage will be up and the voting mechanism for visitors to vote on their favourites will be in place,” says Carvalho.

Three main areas near the greenhouse (in front of it and on both sides) have been chosen as the focus for the trials. Each garden area is designed to feature exciting new introductions in bold combinations of colour and texture. Some areas will showcase plants for shady or sunny conditions or to attract pollinators. Whatever style of gardening you favour, you are sure to be inspired by this very special event and will want to visit often to track your favourite ‘plants’ progress.

Canadian Grown

All the plants are Canadian grown with the seed beginning its journey at George Sant and Sons Greenhouses in Bolton, Ontario. Occupying eight acres of heated greenhouses on 85 acres of farmland, this fourth-generation farm is one of the largest suppliers of annual plugs and cuttings in Canada. The TBG’s gardeners began planting the installations in late May.

The Plants on Trial

The installations are comprised of over 65 carefully selected varieties to be located in three main areas near the greenhouse. Here’s a sneak preview of what you can expect to find: