OZBREED PLANT BREEDING AND TESTING

Green wall trial testing a variety of Ozbreed plants

Ozbreed plants have been a staple for landscape professionals for over 20 years and are renowned for their no fuss, functional and reliable landscape plants.

BRED FOR PURPOSE
There are lots of places to get inspiration from when considering a new breeding project. Ozbreed starts by listening to our Landscape Professional Network to breed plants that aren’t just an improvement on common varieties but that also solve a problem.

Whether it be hedges for shrinking backyard sizes, groundcovers to control weeds, strappy leaf plants that can survive the neglect of life on the roadside or native grasses that can hold hillsides together, Ozbreed plants are bred for a purpose.

Tanika® Lomandra (right) stays green when common form (left) goes brown in roadside trial

TESTED IN EXTREME CONDITIONS
New products are put to the test at the Ozbreed Clarendon Testing Facility. Here, they push the plants to their limits to see what they can survive. Then they are tested even further with our growing partners all over the country before being commercially released. A huge variety of factors are put to the test, including:

• Disease and pest resistance
• Different soils
• Drought and flood
• Heat and cold
• Habit uniformity
• Low maintenance
• Shade
• Invasiveness

Cold tolerance trial on Lomandras in New Zealand

SPECIAL PURPOSE
Going above and beyond, Ozbreed also conducts trials to see their plants potential for special purposes. Some recent trials include testing of plants for use in green walls, green roofs, playgrounds, swales, rain gardens and erosion control.

They also test for special conditions such as salt tolerance and fire-retardant abilities. For example, Tanika^® Lomandra was found to be a safe option for fall zones in playgrounds as well as having the ability to survive when planted in playground mulch.

Little Jess™ Dianella (left) survived when common form (right) died in roadside trial and Tanika® Lomandra in playground mulch trial

WE DON’T GUESS, WE TEST
From humid tropical weather in Queensland to freezing nights in Tasmania, it is known with certainty which plants will thrive and which won’t survive. With detailed guides on each plant, you can choose the right plant for the right place with confidence.

When you choose an Ozbreed plant, you are backed by over 20 years of breeding experience and an average of 5-10 years of thorough testing on each plant. When Ozbreed says “we don’t guess, we test”, they mean it!

Swale trial on Grey Box™ and Mundi™ Westringias

For more information and access to Ozbreed’s research articles visit the website via the link below.