OVERTON, Texas (KLTV) – Texas A&M AgriLife Professor of Ornamental Horticulture Andrew King invites East Texans to visit the organization’s yearly Annual and Perennial Plant Trial on June 25 in Overton.
Now in its 31st year, the program helps gardeners and landscapers sort through plants by showing which annuals and perennials perform best in local conditions.
“It’s sort of a torture test for the plants to be honest,” King told East Texas Now. “We don’t want to put something in our landscapes thinking that it’s going to be great if it’s not.”
King said the plants are grown in an open field to mimic real-world heat, rain and humidity.
Visitors can walk the rows at their own pace from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., then head to the research center for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. (lunch requires registration by June 22).
Afternoon educational sessions run from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., featuring industry speakers and experts discussing promising varieties, native plants and perennial performance.
Directions and registration details are available here.
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