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Written by Colorado Green NOW   
Wednesday, August 10, 2022 04:00 AM

Colorado Green Now

This was the fourteenth year Colorado State University has conducted Cool Season Trials at the Annual Flower Trial Garden. The overall goal of this project is to determine which varieties of cool season plants are best suited for marketing and growing in the Rocky Mountain Region. For the plants tested in the 2021-2022 trial, initial data was recorded in October 2021 and taken monthly, unless under heavy snow cover, until end of April 2022. Irrigation was monitored throughout the trial period and additional water was added when temperatures were above 40°F. Snow cover and rain amounts were recorded throughout this period.

The winter and early spring 2022 had some different weather periods. There were lengthy periods of snow cover in January and February 2022. April was extremely dry, having with very little or almost no rain, with extremely high winds. Also, on the evening of April 12, the low temperature dropped to 16°F after several very warm days in early April reaching 80°F.

Representatives from the CSU Annual Trial Committee met on April 27, 2022 to evaluate 57 different varieties of Cool Season plants. Unlike last year, there were no geese problems because almost all of the kale and cabbage varieties did not survive the cold temperatures encountered.

The committee recommended five superior varieties from the 2021-22 Cool Season Trials. See which plants fared best through the winter conditions in Colorado Green, July/August 2022 issue or visit http://flowertrials.colostate.edu/ and click on Cool Season tab.