Cultivar Trials of Bedding Plants

Abstract

Continued growth of over 15 percent per year has marked the bedding plant industry since 1978. On the wholesale level, producing annuals and perennials has become a billiondollarbusiness nationally. The University of Minnesota supports this growing industry in Minnesota in various ways, among which are the cultivar trials conducted on Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Stations at Morris, St. Paul, and Grand Rapids. At thesesites,newand oldcultivarsare grownfromseed donated byseed companies, planted out,and rated periodicallyfor fieldperformance.Thegardensareopen to thepublic and industry for self-guided tours throughout the growing season, providing a unique opportunity to compare performance of bedding plantcultivars underregionalconditions. In this publication, results from all three sites are summarized. The data reflect the growing conditions at each site during 1992 only; cultivars may have performed quite differently in previous years. For results from earlier trials, contact the site supervisordirectly, or obtain earlier editions of this publication fromthe MES DistributionCenter.Not all years maybe available