Top Performers at Raker Trials
In my last newsletter, I shared some of the top performers from Kansas State University’s 2015 trial. Today, we’ll be traveling 800 miles northeast to Litchfield, Michigan.
Each summer, C. Raker & Sons, one of Michigan’s premiere plant suppliers, hosts its annual plant trial at the Raker Trial Gardens. They display more than 65,000 individual plants in comparison trials as well as landscape environments, all within five acres.
More than 700 rows of annuals and perennials are trialed in a true, side-by-side comparison format. For 2015, some of the comparison trial highlights were: ornamental kale and cabbage, pentas, vegetative osteospermum, tender grasses, celosia and pentas.
The Raker Trial Garden also offers an opportunity to view hundreds of new varieties. More than 300 rows are dedicated to showing new variety comparions in an in-ground setting, and more than 160 new varieties are displayed in 14-inch hanging baskets.
Here are some of the highest scoring varieties from this year’s trial. For more information about the Raker Trial Gardens and to view full trial data, click here.
Begonia ‘Santa Cruz’ (Benary)
Begonia ‘Waterfall Encanto Red’ (Beekenkamp)
Coleus ‘Stained Glassworks Big Blonde’ (Dümmen Orange)
Flowering kale ‘Peacock Red’ (American Takii)
Torenia ‘Moon Blue’ (Danziger)
Are you growing any of the above varieties? How are they performing for you?
Do you visit any summer plant trials, or do you host any of your own? Shoot me an email at jdolce@greatamericanpublish.com and tell me about it; I’d love to hear from you.
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