UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Each May, the expression "flower power" takes on a new meaning at Penn State's Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Manheim, Lancaster County, when an 85-year-old tradition — the Penn State Flower Trials — gets underway.
"Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences runs one of the oldest and largest flower trials in the world," said Sinclair Adam, who directs the program, with guidance from a 42-member floricultural advisory board. "It is an amazing slice of floriculture that has a powerful benefit in Pennsylvania and beyond."
According to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, the estimated annual wholesale value of Pennsylvania's floricultural products is $193 million, making the state one of the top 15 producers in the nation. The trials provide floricultural companies with valuable information on flower varieties that perform well — or not so well — in various environments around the state, so that those companies can grow and market the most favorable ones.
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