A garden grown specifically for the purpose of testing and evaluating plants is called a trial garden. Universities, plant breeders, and garden-industry companies frequently have trial gardens, as do many private and public botanical gardens and professional garden journalists. In the classic trials model, newly developed varieties of plants are compared with the closest similar industry standard plant throughout their life cycle—from germination/propagation through maturity, from seed to harvest. By growing new varieties side-by-side with existing ones, researchers can determine whether these new varieties are indeed better, and, if so, in what respects.
FBCMG has, over the years, conducted several trials. These trials have been varied: a rose trial, a sunflower trial, a zinnia trial, a pepper trial, a grass trial and, currently, a citrus trial.
Trial gardens provide valuable information about how plants behave in our soil and climate. The results of these trials are beneficial for all residents of Fort Bend County and other areas of the nation with similar growing conditions.
Purpose: The purpose of the Citrus Hardiness Demonstration is to develop a table of the most cold hardy satsumas for Fort Bend County.
Objectives:
1. Plant and maintain twelve varieties of common satsumas
2. Gather data after each winter as to performance of each variety
3. Use gathered data to educate Fort Bend residents on successful varieties
This process began in 2013. Flying Dragon (dwarf) rootstock seedlings were planted in 2014. They were allowed to grow out for two years. Budwood of twelve Satsuma varieties was chosen and grafted to the rootstock in 2016 and 2017. The winter of 2017 killed several grafts necessitating the re-grafting in 2018.
The orchard is growing well. The target date for gathering cold hardiness data is 2020. This has been a long demonstration but will bear valuable information for the residents of Fort Bend County.
If you choose to visit this garden, you may find this flier helpful.
Citrus Trial Garden – Garden of the Month February 2020 by Garreta Kipp, Fort Bend Master Gardener
The twelve varieties are:
| Miyagawa Citrus unshiu |
Dobashi Beni Citrus reticulate |
China 9 Citrus reticulata |
| Arctic Frost Citrus reticulata |
Bumper Citrus reticulate |
Orange Frost Citrus reticulata |
| Kimborogh Citrus reticulata |
Xie Shan Citrus reticulata |
Clementine Citrus reticulata |
| Silverhill Citrus reticulata |
Miho Wase Citrus unshiu |
Okitsu Wase Citrus |