Ruter has contributed many plants to landscapes around the southeast including the Passion, Adore and Blush hibiscus varieties, Hot Lips trumpet vine, and a variety of hollies. The 2019 Classic City Award-winning and Best of the Best Award-winning varieties are currently available in local garden centers. Planting has resumed as normal this year and winners of the Trial Gardens' Classic City Garden Awards and Best of the Best Awards will be announced in October. While the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted normal trials in 2020, Trial Gardens staff evaluated a smaller number of plants to choose the best annuals and perennials in 2020 trials. depending on the staff’s recommendations to determine what they will grow to sell the following season.Ĭriteria for award-winning plants include tolerance to heat and humidity, ease of propagation, resistance to disease and insects, flower show and longevity. The evaluations are globally respected, with commercial nurseries across the U.S. Since 1982, the Trial Gardens have evaluated new selections of annuals and perennials and helped introduce new plants to the Southeast’s green industry and the public. “Breeders send us their plants because they want to see if they can grow in the heat and humidity of a Georgia summer,” said Ruter. Then they monitor the plants’ performance through the hottest season of the year. Trial Gardens staff plant the new varieties during April and May, including major and minor bedding classes, tropicals, vines, plantings of specialty annuals, more than 150 free-standing containers and three large perennial beds. The staff at the Trial Gardens receive plants or seeds from almost all of the plant breeding companies in the world, along with material from perennial plant nurseries, individual growers and gardeners, including the UGA breeding programs led by John Ruter, professor of horticulture at UGA and director of the Trial Gardens. While you're there, be sure to sign up for our award-winning monthly newsletter, Plant Savvy.Īll articles are copyrighted and remain the property of the author.Athens, GA ( May 5, 2021) - Plants and flowers are popular choices for Mother’s Day gifts each year and University of Georgia plant breeders are responsible for many beautiful varieties available in garden stores.Īs they are developed, many of these varieties - along with hundreds of other new ornamentals from nurseries and plant breeders around the world - are tested at the Trial Gardens at UGA. Zone: 9 – 10įor much more about gardening, plants, solutions, and ideas, visit our very popular blog, Grow Beautifully. Great in natural form, or shear into a low formal hedge. Perfect in tough spots performs in sun, harsh inland heat or rugged coastal exposures, with minimal watering or care. A more compact and showier selection that produces masses of luminous bluish purple flowers in spring and often lightly year-round. Very warm areas where drought is also an issue have limited options, but this one is a total winner. Zone: 4 – 6īlue Gem Westringia ( Westringia fruticosa 'WES03' PP #25,674) A big bushy shrub, it can be used as a single specimen or ganged into a low-maintenance hedge. Fragrant foliage can be sheared to release more scent. This North American native thrives in the worst alkaline sandy soils. Northern Bayberry ( Myrica pennsylvanica) Tolerates mild drought when established in landscapes. This particular one is mid-size and compact, and its upright habit and plentiful blooms makes it a perfect choice as a specimen, container accent, or for mass plantings. Purple Cow™ Crape Myrtle ( Lagerstroemia hybrid 'GAMAD IX' PP #23,560P)Ĭrape myrtles are famously resilient to winds, which is probably why they're so beloved in coastal areas of the American South. Use as a small specimen tree to anchor a border, or create an informal hedge. A fuss-free plant for year-round interest in western gardens. Masses of white flowers yield bright, edible strawberry-like fruits. Zone: 2 – 8ĭwarf Strawberry Tree ( Arbutus unedo 'Compacta') Spring flowers and showy blood-red stems in winter. Isanti Red-Osier Dogwood ( Cornus sericea 'Isanti') Shrubs planted in groups tend to sustain less damage than single shrubs standing alone.Any shrub, even these, can fail if not planted in appropriate conditions and given the care required.Choose appropriate, wind-resilient species.Since there's nothing good about plants stripped of their foliage or rendered dry and desiccated by a gale force tempest, the solution might be as simple as using specimens that are just fine with it. It's not only coastal gardens that have to deal with persistent winds-inland gardens at higher altitudes and those in flat, wind-prone areas also get regularly battered, too. GardenSMART :: Best Shrubs for Windy Gardens Best Shrubs for Windy Gardens
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