Regina Bracy, resident coordinator at the LSU AgCenter Hammond Research Station, discusses ongoing research projects at the station during the recent landscape field day.(Photo by Johnny Morgan. Click on photo for downloadable image.)

Landscapers, grounds crews, nursery staffs and others heard updates on research projects at the Hammond Research Station landscape field day on Oct. 18.

The event was an opportunity for the research station staff to show off some fall color and provide information on the latest Louisiana Super Plant selections, according to Regina Bracy, resident coordinator at the station.

This is the first time the field day has been held in the fall, and Bracy said there is an important reason.

“Last year we had the field day in the spring, and we were showing plants that made it through the winter. These are cool-season plants,” Bracy said. “But when we have a field day in the fall, we are showing a plant that made it through the heat, and it is a very tough plant.”

Attendees visited different research plots on the station to see which plants do best in various locations and situations.

“We estimate that we had about 125 people present with about 40 percent who had never been on the station before. So we were thrilled to introduce them to the type of research that we do here,” Bracy said. “We hope they saw something new because we have some of the newest plants in the industry here so we can test them and let people know what to grow.”

LSU AgCenter researcher Yan Chen discussed her projects involving plant growth regulators and pesticide resistance.

“We’re looking at the use of bio-pesticides in combination with traditional pesticides to reduce resistance to the chemicals,” Chen said.

One research focus of the station is evaluation of bedding plants, perennials and roses in landscapes, according to LSU AgCenter horticulturist Allen Owings.

“We’re trying to see which plants perform better, which ones stay in bloom and which have the most disease resistance to them,” Owings said.

In the sun garden trials at the station, from 450 to 600 varieties of annual bedding plants are evaluated each year, Owings said.

Field days are held at the station several times a year to provide information to nursery growers, retail garden center employees and managers, greenhouse growers and landscape contractors.

“We’re doing a real good job right now of disseminating information quicker to the nursery and landscape professionals,” Owings said. “Then we use our extension service to disseminate to the folks who are involved in commercial ornamental horticulture.”

Besides seeing something new, Bracy said, they explained how to grow better plants based on fertilizer, and looked at plant growth regulators to help control plant size in the landscape.

The field day was an opportunity for the public to see the Louisiana Super Plants in the natural environment and to gain information on the proper way to take care of them.

“The response to the Louisiana Super Plants program has been great,” Bracy said. “We really appreciate how the gardening public, the retailers and growers have embraced the program.”

The Louisiana Super Plants program started in the fall of 2010 and names three or four ornamental varieties as Louisiana Super Plants each spring and fall.

Owings said the program recommends to home gardeners the best-performing landscape plants in the state.

“What the retailers and growers are telling us is it’s increased their sales anywhere from 45 to over 100 percent,” Bracy said. “When we recommend a Louisiana Super Plant, it is one that will do well in north or south Louisiana.”

Johnny Morgan