Garden Road Tripping, Volume 4

Plant Trials Field Day 2012

Today we bring you coverage of the Dallas Arboretum’s Plant Trials Field Day, as promised!

First, a little background on this event. Field Day actually starts inside—with slideshows in an air-conditioned meeting room! Plant professionals from throughout North Texas gather to learn which plants fared best during last Summer (2011) and this Spring (2012).

You can imagine the excitement of the assembled guests. We’re getting the inside scoop on plants that thrived during the hottest Summer on record! Many of these selections will ultimately end up in stores for you to purchase.

Close to 200 plants were highlighted during the 3-hour presentation. Since I can’t begin to cover them all, you’ll have to settle for my personal top 5 list.

Snapdragon—Arrow™ Series. This cool-season annual looks like it’ll be a crowd stopper. I love how tall it is and the super-vivid colors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wasabi Coleus. Now here’s a looker! The information packet we received describes Wasabi as “screaming green.” It looks like it will stand up to the heat, too. This Coleus received the FlameProof designation from the Dallas Arboretum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet Potato Vine Sweet Caroline Bewitched. This isn’t your standard Sweet Potato Vine. The foliage is a rich purple—almost black in the right lighting. It’s another FlameProof plant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brakelights Red Yucca. Oh yeah. This baby is RED. And it’s compact—making for a good container plant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Echinacea ‘Raspberry Truffle.’ If you love Coneflowers but want something a little different, take a look at this compact pink variety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But wait! There’s more! On Monday we’ll give you a visual tour of pl