It’s never too early to think about next year’s garden!
Here are the results from the 2021 Annual Flower Trial conducted at the University of Minnesota West Central Research and Outreach Center in Morris. With nearly 500 varieties under evaluation, it was one of our largest trials yet.
The goal of evaluating flowers is to develop recommendations for our area. In 2021, we tried nearly 500 varieties ranging from ageratum to lantana to petunias to salvia. Each year, the Top Ten Performing Annuals are selected from the hundreds of cultivars tried.
Here are the top ten performers in 2021:
- Angelonia Angelissa™ Rose
- Begonia benariensis BIG® White Green Leaf
- Begonia BK Collection Vermillion Red
- Calibrachoa Bloomtastic Yellow
- Celosia Kelos® Fire Orange
- Coleus Colorblaze® Torchlight™
- Petunia Itsy™ Magenta
- Petunia Surfinia® Purple Heart
- Salvia farinacea Sallyfun™ Sky Blue
- Sunflower Suncredible® Saturn™
The Horticulture Display Garden provides a venue for education and demonstrates landscape design and plant material options for homeowners and gardeners. The objective of annual flower research at the WCROC is to evaluate varieties for plant quality characteristics. Evaluations are shared with commercial and amateur bedding-plant growers.
