In restored prairies, a few weeks can change the balance between flowering perennials, cool-season weeds and emerging grasses. Spring mowing is often used to…
Evaluating Perennials for Chicagoland Gardens
Perennials in Focus is a plant evaluation program that examines new and underused plants for Chicagoland, the third largest metropolitan area in the country. A group of horticultural experts trials and evaluates plants at numerous locations across the region. Results help consumers, public gardens, growers, landscape designers, breeders, and other industry professionals make informed plant choices.
Blog
Australian gardeners in the cooler corners of the continent often look overseas for guidance on truly cold-tolerant perennials. Places like Canberra, the…
When a new woodland border goes in, the race begins between your young trees and shrubs and the opportunistic weeds that colonise bare soil. Shaded edges…
Specialist pollinators, particularly solitary bees that collect pollen from a narrow range of plants, quietly sustain much of the world's pollination services.…
The Perennials in Focus program has spent several seasons evaluating Penstemon digitalis, commonly called beardtongue, in the demanding parkway strips that…
Across Australia, gardeners often notice a familiar lull. Spring-flowering bulbs put on a brief, brilliant show, then the border settles into green just as the…
Kalimeris incisa, sometimes sold as the cut-leaf Japanese aster or blue star, has been quietly winning over gardeners who need a polite, workhorse perennial…
A steep garden bank can be one of the most awkward parts of a landscape. Mowing is unsafe, hand-weeding is slow, and heavy rain can wash away exposed soil…
Lobelia cardinalis is valued for its vivid scarlet flower spikes, upright habit and late-season presence in damp perennial borders. Its colour can appear…
Across temperate southern Australia, pale coneflower has quietly earned a following among gardeners drawn to its slender drooping petals, drought leanings and…
In the Garden
Evaluator gardens are located across the Chicagoland area, representing a range of growing conditions. Visit our retail and wholesale partners to find trialled perennials for your own garden.
Retail & Wholesale: Hinsdale Nurseries (Willowbrook, IL), Mariani Nurseries (Kenosha, WI & Garden Prairie, IL), Northwind Perennials (Burlington, WI), The Growing Place (Aurora, IL).
Wholesale Only: Hinsdale Nurseries (Plano, IL), Intrinsic Perennial Gardens (Hebron, IL).
Our Evaluation Program
The 2017–2020 evaluation cycle included Agastache 'Blue Boa', Allium senescens 'Blue Eddy', Amsonia ciliata var. filifolia 'Georgia Pancake', Astilbe 'Chocolate Shogun', Boltonia astroides 'James Crocket', Brunnera 'Alexander's Great', and Geranium cinereum 'Jolly Jewel Purple'. Completed evaluations include Amsonia 'Blue Ice' (2004–07).
On April 10, 2020, the program published snapshot profiles for Vernonia lettermanii 'Iron Butterfly', Stokesia laevis 'Elf', Stachys officinalis 'Pink Cotton Candy', Lobelia 'Monet Moment', Helleborus 'Winter Thrillers', Geum 'Mai Tai', Geranium soboliferum 'Butterfly Kisses', Gentiana x intermedia 'True Blue', Eurybia divaricata, Asparagus 'Purple Passion', and Agastache 'Bolero'.
Browse the full collection of snapshots organized alphabetically — from A–D, E–H, I–Q, and R–Z — to find detailed performance data on perennials trialled across Chicagoland.
