plant trials

How-To
Best of the Bush Clovers: Trial Plant Results

By the time August rolls around, I’m looking for something new in the garden to pique my interest. I’m not quite ready for fall plants to take their turn, so…
Design
The Best Summer Alliums to Grow: Plant Trial Results

Some years ago, during a midsummer trip to Wisconsin, I found myself transfixed by a vast planting of ‘Summer Beauty’ allium dotted throughout with taller bright pink coneflowers (Echinacea spp.…
Design
Noteworthy New Summer Alliums

Although too new to our trial to be fully evaluated, these notable alliums are worthy of praise. Keep an eye out for them when you're at your local garden center…
Design
Missing Plant Trials and Chile Rellenos | Letter from the Editor

Before we stopped traveling for the better part of two years, my favorite annual trip for Fine Gardening was to the Chicago Botanic Garden. Every year I’d visit Richard Hawke,…
Design
These New Burnets Deserve Your Attention

These burnets are new on the scene, but they're already showing promise. ‘Blackthorn’ burnet Robust ‘Blackthorn’ burnet (S. ‘Blackthorn’) was one of the largest of all the burnets after just…
Design
Burnets Are Tough and Beautiful Plants

I have no recollection of burnets—native or cultivated—before my back-to-back encounters with great burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis) in the South Korean countryside and on the grassy steppes of Siberia. The sight…
Design
Chicago Botanic Garden Trial Gardens

For more than a decade, Richard Hawke has been writing for Fine Gardening, giving readers insight into his plant trial results. He is the plant evaluation manager at the Chicago…
Collection
Plant Trial Results: The Best of the Best Plants for Every Garden

One of the best parts of being a gardener is plant shopping. But the variety of options for any given plant can be overwhelming. Every year new cultivars come out,…
Design
Persicarias Deserve Your Love—Trial Results

For many years, persicarias—also known as knotweeds—inhabited the periphery for me. I saw them but mostly looked past them, thinking of them as filler more than thriller. My first genuine…
Design
What’s New With Coneflowers?

I think many gardeners oscillate between loving and hating coneflowers—I know I do. It’s a phenomenon I’ve observed for nearly 20 years. I was there at the turn of the…

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