Gardeners in the Chicago region are often drawn to plants that bring an unusual texture, evergreen presence, or long season of bloom. Hebe is a good example:…
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
A formal rose garden depends on clarity. Repeated shapes, balanced borders, controlled color, and visible pathways create the ordered character that makes…
Edible landscaping brings harvestable leaves, flowers, and herbs into the same spaces as ornamental perennials. In Chicagoland, the best plants must offer more…
Hostas are widely recognized as dependable shade perennials, yet many cultivars can grow successfully in brighter locations when moisture, soil, and exposure…
When Chicago gardens are still gray and many perennials remain dormant, lungwort brings a welcome display of flowers and fresh foliage. Pulmonaria is…
A perennial meadow brings movement, seasonal color, habitat, and a more natural character to the garden. In the Chicagoland region, the most successful…
Community gardens are living laboratories for perennial plants. A successful planting must survive winter, recover from temperature swings, compete with…
By late August, many perennial borders lose their early-season energy. Peonies are long past bloom, catmint may look tired, and some daylilies have finished…
Agastache foeniculum, commonly called anise hyssop, earns attention for its summer flower spikes and minty fragrance. Yet its value continues after the…
Gaillardia, often called blanket flower, brings a long season of warm color to perennial borders. Its daisy-like blooms commonly combine yellow, orange, red,…
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.
