Consumers pick their favorite ornamental plants

A group of volunteers, many of whom are master gardeners with Ohio St. Univ. Extension and the Columbus campus’ Chadwick Arboretum had a chance to evaluate the plants in this year’s university garden trials. The first evaluation took place in July and more will be done during the summer. Run by the university’s Floriculture Program, this year’s trials include some 5,000 specimens representing 727 varieties developed by more than 30 seed companies. The trials feature 457 bedding cultivars, 210 container cultivars, 56 shade cultivars and 4 mixed-container combinations.

Top performers were Benary’s ‘Denver Daisy’ rudbeckia (field trial), Ball Seed’s Funtastic Mango gerbera (container trial), and PanAmerican Seed’s Gryphon begonia (shade trial). Plants were ranked on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being a plant they didn’t like at all, and 5 being a plant they liked a lot. Many of the plants received a rating of 4 and above, including 60 in the field trial, 30 in the container trial and 15 in the shade trial.

Floriculture and landscape professionals will have a chance to view the trials on Aug. 10, during the Mixed-Containers Trials Open House, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

While the consumer evaluations concentrate on personal preference, the grower evaluations are more comprehensive and rank plants according to flower quality, flower quantity, vegetative vigor, uniformity and overall ratings. The results of both evaluations will be available in August.