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NEWS RELEASES - 2007

Good News for Gardeners

(Guelph, ON – June 18, 2007) If you want to know which plants grow higher and fuller, bloom quicker, stand up in extreme weather conditions and resist common plant diseases, then the research trial gardens at the University of Guelph are the place to go.

Researchers have been providing Ontario’s 1,600 flower growers and over 235 garden centers with this valuable information since 2001, allowing them to choose the most suitable plants to sell.

Located along the entrance to the Guelph Turfgrass Institute, the 1,400 square-metre garden allows gardeners to see which ornamental plants perform best in southwestern Ontario's climate. It's the only university-operated ornamental trial garden in Ontario and is part of a research network across North America.

Set up by greenhouse technician Rodger Tschanz, Department of Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph, the research gardens started small, testing only 40 different plants. Now, five years later, this and two other two satellite sites grow more than 500 cultivars in total, including many new or previously unknown plants from all around the world as well as new variations of garden classics such as geraniums, petunias, impatiens and begonias.

Plant breeders from all over the world supply Tschanz and his colleagues with seeds and rooted cuttings. Bloom colour and size, height, fullness, growth rate, recovery after rainfall and ease of maintenance are all measured and the results sent back to the breeders. Results from the season trials are communicated to the horticultural industry and the public through publications like Landscape Ontario’s “Horticulture Review” magazine and through presentations at gardening shows such as Canada Blooms. The University’s Trial Garden Web site (www.plant.uoguelph.ca/trialgarden/index.htm) also provides easy access to the trial results..

Every summer the public and gardening professionals are invited to open houses at the trial gardens to view for themselves the performances of the various plants, and to then vote for their favourites. This feedback can be used by greenhouse growers and garden centres to decide which plants to carry the following season.

Most of the flowers used in the trials are annuals but in the past two years the number of perennials has increased. Perennials are typically evaluated over a three-year period to
determine their winter-hardiness as well as their bloom and growth performance during the summer. Companies such as Blooms of Bressingham and Vanhof and Blokker have entered selections of perennials from their catalogues to be evaluated in the Guelph trials.

This research is funded in part by Flowers Canada (Ontario) Inc., ITML Horticultural Products Inc., SunGro Horticulture Inc., Plant Products Canada and all of the plant breeders participating in the trials.

This project is also funded in part through contributions by Canada and the Province of Ontario under the Canada-Ontario Research and Development (CORD) Program, an initiative of the federal-provincial-territorial Agricultural Policy Framework designed to position Canada’s agri-food sector as a world leader. The Agricultural Adaptation Council administers the CORD Program on behalf of the province.

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For more information:
Nadine Armstrong
Communications Manager
Agricultural Adaptation Council
Ph: 519-822-7554
E-mail: narmstrong@adaptcouncil.org
Website: www.adaptcouncil.org