Perennials in Focus History

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PERENNIALS IN FOCUS: A BRIEF HISTORY The Perennials in Focus team has grown in 2009 to a membership of 18 volunteer evaluators from all aspects of the green industry. Perennial plants are evaluated on numerous sites scattered around the Chicagoland area. Each site has a wide array of soils, light exposures, climates, and garden pests, which make for very comprehensive, final comparisons amongst each plant that is evaluated. All ratings, ranging from excellent to poor, will be published for all to review. How did this all get started? During the 1990s, the demand for perennials was on the rise. Growers responded to the demand by introducing many new perennials to the market place. The sales staff of local nurseries needed input to make forecasting decisions. Finding a system to sort through the perennials that were most desirable and performed well in the Chicagoland region was important. The group started with the sales staff at Midwest Groundcovers in St. Charles, IL, and grower Roy Diblik of Northwind Perennial Farm in Burlington, WI. In the beginning, the sales staff took trips to local gardens to see what was being planted and how they were performing; some of the plants were also trialed in the Midwest Groundcovers’ display gardens. Customer focus groups were organized to get input on customer interests and preferences. Basically they were searching for the answers to the following questions: 1. How did these new perennial introductions perform in local climates and soils? 2. What additional benefit did these plants provide over similar plants already on the market? 3. Was there a difference in perennial performance on one area site compared to another? Toward the end of the 1990s, this group expanded to include the participation of other green industry members in the Chicagoland area. These participants represented re-wholesalers, garden centers, landscape designers, contractors, and growers. The perennials to be trialed were collectively selected by this group of 12 people. They identified themselves as the Perennial Evaluation Committee. This group met twice a year, in February and November, and a field trip to view perennial gardens was organized for late summer each year. Plants were distributed to members for trialing in their own diverse growing locations; and Excel evaluation forms were developed to record plant observations throughout the growing season and final notes were compiled at the end of each year. The next stage occurred in the early 2000s. Members in horticulture education and public horticulture joined the committee. Besides choosing and evaluating perennials that were new or underused, members worked on improving the consistency of the evaluating process by improving evaluation forms and methodology for evaluating perennial performance. During this time, the group worked on establishing a mission statement and formalizing their work with job and committee descriptions. Prior to 2008, the members of this committee had not been able to agree on a name that best represented what they were trying to accomplish, nor did they have a way to share their evaluation results with the gardening public and green industry. This all changed in 2008, when the new name of Perennials in Focus was chosen. Soon after, a partnership with College of DuPage was fostered, and with their help, the development of a logo and web site was underway. In 2009, the first web site for the evaluation was launched, providing valuable information on all perennials evaluated and summarized in “Perennial Snapshots”. To the Top