Plant Ratings from 2014 Trials Now Available in Plant Trials Database

Jennifer Zurko

Now that North American trial grounds have completed their 2014 trialing season, the National Plant Trials Database has more than 15,000 plant ratings for the horticulture industry’s use in planning for 2015. Each year since its inception in 2012, the number of varieties and ratings have increased, making the database an ever more useful tool for flower brokers, buyers and sellers.

To view the trial data, industry professionals can simply go to www.planttrials.org and click on the “Register to View” button.

Trialing details by year:
2012: 1,655 varieties with more than 5,600 ratings from eight trial grounds

2013: 2,463 varieties with more than 9,400 ratings from 12 trial grounds

2014: 3,651 varieties with more than 15,500 ratings from 19 trial grounds

The initial idea for an online repository of trialing data came out of a collaboration between All-America Selections and the University of Georgia. After identifying and establishing standardized trialing protocols and scoring, the system was built in 2012 and is currently supported by the following breeding companies:

American Takii
Danziger “Dan” Flower Farm
Dümmen Group
Ernst Benary of America
Floranova Ltd.
PanAmerican Seed/Ball Horticultural Company
Proven Winners
Sakata Ornamentals
The Suntory Collection
Syngenta Flowers

After three trialing seasons, the Plant Trials Database now includes more than 30,000 ratings on thousands of varieties of annuals. This is expected to grow tremendously in the near future, as additional breeding companies participate and as additional categories—such as perennials and edibles—are added to the system.

With trialing data and ratings on such a large number of varieties, brokers, growers and garden retailers will find this information useful when making purchasing decisions. The data can be accessed by going to www.planttrials.org and filling out a short application form. Within a short time, applicants will be notified of their user credentials.

At this time, information is available only to the industry, but eventually will become a tool for home gardeners as well. GT