Tucked in the southeast corner of the JC Raulston Arboretum is a living laboratory, where over 700 varieties of perennial, annual and edible plants grow in trial beds. Some of these plants will eventually be available for purchase, but the only way to see them now is to visit a testing garden.
Since the early 1990s, the arboretum has been collecting data on trial plants. Supplied by growers and the nonprofit All-America Selections, the plants are studied for regional hardiness, color stability, growth patterns and disease resistance.
Bernadette Clark ’81, ’82, who has managed the trial beds since 1984, begins planting seeds indoors in January, and the plants are moved outdoors in May. She rates the trials weekly, compiles the data at the end of the growing season and posts it online.
Because All-America Selections sends the same trial seeds to gardens throughout the country, some plants aren’t suited to the Piedmont’s warm nights and the heavy rain of hurricane season. Clark has seen many plants die before their time. “That’s part of growing plants,” she says. “As long as you learn from what went wrong, it’s not a failure.”
In the summer, the beds are awash with the color of begonias, zinnias and moss roses. The garden is open to the public daily, and Clark recommends stopping by throughout the growing season because the flowers change as they mature. In the late summer, the arboretum asks visitors to vote on their favorite trial flower and hosts a tasting of edible plants — tomatoes, peppers, fennel and broccoli — but last year, Clark says, “only the rabbits were able to enjoy the broccoli.”
Students, homeowners, growers, professional landscapers and entomologists all use the gardens. “It’s not about being a showplace,” Clark says. “It’s a place of learning. … Whatever their angle is, it’s wonderful to have so many people enjoy it.”
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