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By Kelli Rodda While much of the nation was facing drought conditions, many trial gardens survived with supplemental irrigation. Still the hot, dry weather did take its toll on some varieties. However, some gardens experienced unusually cool, wet weather, which provided good planting conditions, but caused some diseases like Southern blight. Rudbeckia 'Prairie Sun' was a favorite among several trial managers along with the Eureka fibrous begonia series and ornamental grass pennisetum 'Purple Majesty.' Many gardens trialed plants grown from seed and from cuttings. The line between the two is getting cloudier, said Anne Marie Van Nest, instructor at Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens & School of Horticulture in Niagara Falls Ontario, Canada. "Many good types of verbena are grown from seed while several new varieties appearing in garden centers are propagated from cuttings," she said. "Seeding can now very successfully start some of the shorter canna lilies in the Tropical series while most cannas are grown from dividing tubers. "Now cutting geraniums are being developed that are floribunda types having smaller flower clusters with numerous blooms -- a trait that was previously just found in seed geraniums. Regardless of the method of propagation, there's plenty of award-worthy annuals to be found."
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