Trial Garden History

The W. D. Holley Plant Environmental Research Center (PERC), located at 630 W. Lake Street on the Colorado State University campus, has been in operation since 1971. In 1992, Dr. James E. Klett began his role as Director of PERC and became the Faculty Coordinator for the trial program. David Staats also joined the department around this time as a Horticulture Research Associate. Together Dr. Klett and David Staats orchestrate all of the activities required to produce a beautiful garden and successful trial program each year.

The Pansy Trial program was initiated in 2003 to evaluate the capability of various Pansy and Viola varieties to overwinter in the Northern Colorado climate. The trial is also considered to be a Cool-season Crop Overwintering Trial, as we have trialed other genera, such as Delphinium and Dianthus, in the past. The relatively new Perennial Trial was initiated in the fall of 2006 at the request of our advisory committee. The intention of this trial is to test only newer perennial cultivars introduced in the past three years or less.

Relocation to a New Site

Year after year, the number of participants in the trial and the number of entries in the trial grew, leading to the demand for more and more space. In 2000, the Annual Flower Trial Garden was moved from its site at PERC to the park on Remington Street that is just across from the newly remodeled CSU Center for Arts, which was the old Fort Collins High School building. The relocation of the garden to this more spacious and visible site furthered its mission by more effectively extending education, research and outreach to students, home gardeners, Master Gardeners, community members and Green Industry personnel. The 2.9 acre park features an additional 5,000 square feet of bedding plant space, resulting in 20,000 total square feet of bed space available for planting. The relocation project was completed in five phases.

• Phase I, completed in spring 2001, included the development of sun beds and improvements to drainage and irrigation in part of the park.
• Phase II, completed in 2002, involved the installation of a new container area that consists of almost 400 containers for growing plants in full sun conditions.
• Phase III, completed in spring 2003, saw the installation of a new and attractive metal shade structure.
• Phase IV, completed in 2004, led to the addition of two new sun beds and the renovation of the existing park gazebo.
• Phase V, completed in August of 2006, was the creation of three new beds across the street, in front of the CSU Center for the Arts, which are the new home to the perennial trials.

Phase V Perennial Beds

Recent Improvements

To keep up with increasing requests to have entries grown in containers, 70 additional containers were installed in the summer of 2007. In April of 2008, a brand new drinking fountain was installed near the gazebo.

Future Improvement Plans in the Works…

Renovations of the PERC greenhouses are scheduled to begin in July 2008!! The greenhouses will receive new glazing, new heating and cooling systems and new roll-top benches. We can hardly wait for the improvements!

A new information display board will be created and installed near the gazebo. The sign board will welcome people to the garden and include general information about the garden and the trial program.

Installation of two new beds for the Perennial Trial in front of the Center for the Arts is scheduled for the fall of 2008. These beds will be partially shaded by large trees that are at the existing site. This will allow us to trial shade and shade tolerant plants with better results.