Welcome to The University of Georgia Flower Trials

Welcome to the Trial Gardens at The University of Georgia! The garden trials the newest varieties of annuals from top plant breeders worldwide and puts perennials to the test to find those that stand up to southeastern heat and humidity. The Trial Gardens at UGA are open all year and provide a great source of ideas and information for students, gardeners, and industry professionals. We invite you to visit anytime!

How to read trial results

When viewing the annual results, these are some helpful hints to keep in mind so that you can understand how to interpret the chart and each plant’s score:

1. We plant our garden in mid-to-late April and start taking data the first week of June. So plants starting at a 4 or 5 have been growing for around a month and getting regular fertilizer and water. When we do plant, we only plant ‘finished’ pots. Anything that has not developed well in the pot in the greenhouse is planted later. 2. Generally speaking, any plant with a score of 3 - 3.5 would be considered desirable for any garden. Plants that score at consistent 3s mean that the plant looks healthy but does not excel in new growth or flower production. 3. Plants scoring between 3.5 and 4.5 flower well and produce consistent new growth. This is the largest group in the garden.

4. Plants scoring between 4.5 and 5 are the plants that are truly standing out above the rest of the flock. These plants both flower profusely and maintain a consistent, desirable shape in the garden.

5. Watch for trends where some plants performed well early in the season and have dropped off as the summer has progressed. Likewise, some plants have had a slow start and are coming into their season later in the summer. Typically, better-scoring plants maintain slight dips and rise that correlate with their bloom cycle, i.e., in bloom, they have a better score, and out of bloom, they have a lesser score.