2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Diversity amongst and within species is a cornerstone of horticulture. However, with such great diversity comes the need for academics, breeders, growers, landscapers, retailers, public gardens, and home gardeners to know how plants are going to perform in their region. Plant trials and trial gardens help to provide that information to these various entities so that wise decisions can be made about plant choice. In July 2016 a new genera trial garden was started at Stephen F. Austin State University in east Texas to evaluate 46 Colocasia cultivars over a three year period. To reduce bias, data was collected by two trained undergraduate students and included plant performance on a 1 (poor) to 5 (outstanding) scale, plant height, and plant width. Based on two years of data, 'Madiera', 'Red Eyed Gecko', and 'Ruffles' were three of the best cultivars who averaged a performance over 3.5. Our data on height and width will be beneficial for those who grow and install Colocasia in ornamental landscapes.