Episode: VIC Special
Date: 24th January
Story: Demonstration Gardens
Presenter: Neville Passmore and Anthony Tesselaar

Neville visited Anthony Tesselaar International?s (ATI?s) trial garden to see how ATI play a significant role in the process of introducing new plants to gardens worldwide.

• ATI is an International Project Management Company which has a heavy emphasis on the environment including; the promotion of environmental friendly plants, research and development on drought and stress tolerance of plants, environmental consultancy and the marketing of innovative grey/black water recycle systems.
• ATI searches the world to look for brilliant and colourful plants that are easy to grow with minimum fuss and then make them readily available for everyone to enjoy.
• Breeders and home gardeners bring their plants to ATI who sell the plants.
• ATI then evaluates the plants with questions such as- is it different from existing varieties, is it colourful, is it stable, will it hold on to its unique characteristics through a number of generations of propagation, is it appealing, is it environmentally friendly?.Today they also look for drought toughness or low water requirements.
• If the plant gets past this stage then it goes into trial gardens where it is grown in conditions that mimic both domestic gardens as well as landscapes.
• Tesselaar?s also trial plants in every state of Australia to pick up on regional differences.
• The plant is tested in the trial plots. 4 to 6 years later it gets the thumbs up or it?s off to the compost heap.? About one in ten tested plants get the thumbs up and are sold at garden centres.
• A few varieties that have earnt their place in ATI gardens are Canna tropicanna, Cordyline Red fountain and seven different colours in flower Carpet roses.

Contact
Anthony Tesselaar International Pty Ltd
327 Monbulk Road,
Silvan , Victoria 3795
Phone: +61 3 9737 9568
Fax: +61 3 9737 9899
email: contactus@tesselaar.com
Website: www.tesselaar.com