New York Farm Viability Institute Website Press Releases

November 15, 2005

Contacts: Mark Bridgen, Cornell University Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center, 631-727-3595; R. David Smith, New York Farm Viability Institute, 
315-453-3823

New York Farm Viability Institute Project Tests Perennials Under Consumer-Style Conditions

With the increasing consumer interest in herbaceous perennial plants, nursery and greenhouse operators are interested in field trials that test plants for their local conditions. A New York Farm Viability Institute Specialty Crops Grant provided the funding for just such tests at Cornell University’s Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center.

“Our purpose was to determine the landscape performance of more than 500 plants grown under Long Island’s climatic conditions. We want to evaluate the plants under conditions similar to that of the average homeowner, so we did not use any pesticides and we used a general purpose fertilizer and organic compost before planting in May,” says Dr. Mark Bridgen, a Cornell University professor of horticulture and director of the Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center.

Full-sun perennial varieties were planted over two acres at the Center and evaluated for their flower, foliage and blooming quality, their resistance to insects and disease and the level of maintenance that the plants require for optimal growth. 

Talmage Farm Perennials of Riverhead, NY, and Glover Perennials, The Plantage, and David Rose Perennials, all of Mattituck, NY, provided plants along with two Connecticut plant growers - Sunny Border Nurseries, Inc. of Kensington and The Plant Group of North Franklin. Southold Compost Facility in Southold, NY, donated more than $5,000 worth of compost for the project.

“We already have requests from breeders and horticultural companies who want us to trial their new plants next to known control specimens. The possibility exists that the project may be able to maintain itself by charging a for-fee service for custom variety trialing,” Bridgen says. 

Bridgen says southern New York plant wholesalers are “thrilled with this project because they now have a location where their buyers can visit to view plants under normal consumer-use growing conditions, and in a garden setting.”

June Croon, owner of The Plantage, a perennial wholesaler in Cutchogue, NY, says, “Display gardens are very important for people to see the culture of the specimens as they grow and how they integrate with their surroundings. Many times a plant that has great value in the landscape will be snubbed by those who lack the experience of having worked with the plant or have not seen it command a presence in a garden setting.”

In 2006, another 500 plants will be trialed on the three acres dedicated to the project at the Long Island Horticultural and Extension Center. Records will be kept on the time of flowering, peak performance, end of flowering, and reflowering, plus data on the size and uniformity of flowers and the plants’ winter hardiness.

For more information on the Long Island Evaluations of Herbaceous Perennial Plants Project, go online to www.LongIslandHort.cornell.edu

The ability to rapidly refocus on changing consumer demands was among the top five opportunities for New York’s green industries identified in the New York Farm Viability Institute’s recently-released New York’s Nursery/Greenhouse/Turf Industries Barriers to Success Report. Click here to review that report. 

The New York Farm Viability Institute is an independent, non-profit organization that is led by farmers and dedicated to increasing New York’s farm profits and farmer success. To learn more about the Institute, contact New York Farm Viability Institute, 159 Dwight Park Circle, Suite 104, Syracuse, NY 13209, 315-453-3823. The complete New York Farm Viability Institute’s Green Industry Barriers Report can be viewed by clicking here.

###