Background. 2012 was the ninth year of our "annual" evaluation program. Our goal is to provide valuable information on plants that are currently available, as well as those not yet released. This information is used by the industry to develop better plants for consumers. Better plants mean happier customers, and potentially more sales. You can review pictures and data from previous research in our Archives section. This research effort is headed up by Dr. Bill Miller (wbm8@cornell.edu), Horticulture Section, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

Sponsors. This year we were happy to have nine sponsors, listed below. Interested in becoming a sponsor? Get the details.

• Ball FloraPlant
• Ball Ingenuity
• Burpee Home Gardens
• Classic Caladiums
• Kieft Pro Seeds
• Pan American Seed
• Proven Winners
• Syngenta Seed
• Syngenta Vegetative

Evaluation criteria. We evaluated the plants every two weeks, by at least four people, including a mix of staff members and interns. Plants are given a 1-5 rating (1=awful, 5=great) on the following attributes:

• Flowering impact (except for foliage plants such as coleus)
• Foliage appearance
• Plot uniformity
• Overall landscape value.

Evaluations also include written subjective commments and photographs. At the end of the season, we average the numbers across all raters, for all evaluation dates, giving an overall seasonal average. View data in an Excel spreadsheet. Photographs are compiled into a timeline of performance throughout the season. View the 2012 Gallery.

Maintenance. Seed, plugs, or rooted cuttings were grown in 4-inch pots in the spring, and transplanted at the Bluegrass Lane Research site in early June. Maintenance was minimal (mulching, weeding and some grooming). Fertilizer was applied as a dry feed in early June (Osmocote). Irrigation was via subirrigation.

Weather. Ithaca is located in Zone 6a (average minimum low temperature -10F to -5F), according to the recently revised USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

April started out fairly normal, but the heat wave began in May. Temperatures kept creeping up all summer, ending with higher than normal temperature for June, July and August. In addition to the heat wave, we didn't get much rain and we had drought conditions in June and July. The weather started to return to normal in August, and the plants really began to thrive.

Average temperatures were 65.3F, 72.3F and 68.8F respectively, for the months of June, July and August. Rain amounts were 1.84", 1.59" and 3.58" respectively, for the months of June, July and August. See graphs below.

Additional weather information can be found at The Ithaca Climate Page.

Thanks. Thanks are expressed to the breeding and supply companies who provided plant materials and financial support for these trials. These trials would not have been possible without the great efforts of Eric Shatt, JC Mosher and Louise Gray of Cornell's Bluegrass Lane Turf and Landscape Research Center, my Trial Garden Coordinator Melissa Kitchen, undergraduate students Dan Goldberg, Joseph Yaros and Missy Call.

2012 interns L to R: Joseph Yaros, Suzana Markolovic, Missy Call, Dan Goldberg