Missing Plant Trials and Chile Rellenos

Before we end traveling for the better part of two twelvemonth , my favourite one-year tripper forFine Gardeningwas to the Chicago Botanic Garden . Every year I ’d visitRichard Hawke , manager of decorative plant inquiry , and the monolithic trial garden he oversees . My mission would be to photograph plants from one of the genus being trialed , which we ’d boast in an article later that yr . Perhaps you ’ve seen those articles highlighting the bestgeraniums , meadow rue , andpanicle hydrangeas(just to name a few ) . I get these trips for more than a decade . I knew the best hotel tight by to stay at the night before the shoot . I hump the code to get through the back gate at 4:30 a.m. to get at the trial gardens . I know to expect those pesky Chicago winds to kick up by 7 ante meridiem , making any exposure darn near impossible .

As far as photo shoot for the magazine go , this CBG trip was always a good one . It was predictable and fruitful . The variety within the trial run gardens and the care the plants incur from the dedicated staff never terminate to amaze me . Imagine the effort it must be to produce over 100 varieties within the same genus and supervise each plant ’s progress — for over FOUR eld . Through reading Richard ’s article I follow to apprize why earth trials are so of import . You simply can not accept that how a plant performs in a deal under ideal term in a nursery is how it will perform in a garden under less - than - idealistic conditions . When I bribe a flora , I want to sleep with it ’s been put to the trial under the same band of circumstances that I will give it — or at least close . And the Chicago Botanic Garden trial do just that .

Reading through the final result ofRichard ’s latest articlewas bittersweet for me . Summer genus Allium are one of the first plants we have featured that I never got to see in the trials with my own centre and through a camera electron lens . But it make me all the more appreciative that Richard and his staff hang in through the last few challenging years and continued doing their insightful inquiry for our welfare .

I ’m sad that I still have n’t been able to chit-chat the Chicago Botanic Garden recently , or eat dinner party with Richard at Wholly Frijoles after a picture shoot . But I ’m thankful we ’re still able to feature his great study in the page ofFine horticulture . Several alliums from this latest article are on my shopping list , including the unique and top - rated ‘ Falling Stars ’ .

I guess I ’ll have to be content for now with monitoring the performance of this allium in my own garden and then attempting to make my own chile rellenos — although I have more faith in the success of the plant than in the success of the culinary endeavor .

— Danielle Sherry , executive editor,[email protect ]

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