Despite the best efforts of the Royal Botanical Gardens, in recent years the roses in the Centennial Rose Garden were suffering. The complete rose garden had to go. Then it was time for 3,300 new hardy roses to be planted. One in particular, Vineland’s 49th Parallel Collection Canadian Shield, is prominently displayed and deservedly so.

Biocontrol programs against thrips start early in the crop cycle. Despite propagators’ best efforts, small numbers of pests may be hiding on cuttings, especially pests with widespread resistance to most conventional insecticides. Vineland discusses its research on dipping techniques against thrips.

A few years ago, researchers at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in Ontario discovered more than a dozen promising apricot selections and put them back on track for commercialization in partnership with Brandt’s Fruit Trees.

A large project at Vineland aims to create on-the-vine greenhouse tomatoes optimized for Ontario growing conditions and consumers.

Amy Bowen, research director of consumer insights with Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, assembled a team from the industry to create a cider research and innovation strategy in 2016. This strategy is now being acted on to determine how to better satisfy consumers within the growing cider marketplace.

In spite of a growing adoption of biocontrol in Canada, aphids are often treated primarily with chemical pesticides because of a belief that biological control isn’t effective. Based on the conclusions drawn from three years of greenhouse and laboratory experiments, Vineland optimized an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy that will maintain aphid populations below a safe level.

Canadian Shield, a vivid red landscape rose with glossy green foliage, is the first in a new series of easy-to-grow roses called the 49th Parallel Collection. Garden Making asked Amy Bowen, Research Director of Vineland, to tell us more about Canadian Shield along with upcoming roses in the collection gardeners can look forward to.

Between 2007 and 2012, Canadians doubled their sweet potato consumption. The rate of growth has somewhat tailed off in more recent years, but the numbers continue to rise overall. Dr. Valerio Primomo, a vegetable breeding research scientist at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in Ontario’s Niagara region is breeding varieties with an eye to producing a shorter-season crop that can still score high with retailers.

After years of work, scientists at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre think they have a sweet potato variety that ticks off all the boxes to be successful in Ontario.

What makes consumers choose certain pre-mixed planters over others? Contrasts in colour and texture seem to be key.

Flowers are important in cultural and daily activities for many Asian immigrants, including South Asians, who by 2050 will make up one-third of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) population. Alexandra Grygorczyk, a researcher at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in Vineland, Ont., and a U of G adjunct professor, leads a research team that is helping to bring Jasmine sambac to Canada.

Vineland Research and Innovation Centre’s Consumer Insights program go in depth on what consumers prefer, and why.