During the spring of 2020 amidst the Covid 19 pandemic the grounds crew was hard at work preparing for and planting the new Perennial Teaching Garden. This one-acre garden is planted with over 150 cultivars of sun loving perennials and 50 species of native perennial plants. New species, and cultivars are being added yearly. The plants in the garden are never sprayed with insecticides, fungicides, and receive no fertilizer. They are watered at planting and then only watered in extreme drought conditions. The garden is demonstrating that some plants are tough as nails, and some fade away.

The garden has become an excellent resource for showing and testing low maintenance perennials. Cultivars are mixed with straight species throughout the gardens so visitors can see what the plant looked like and how breeders have changed the height, flowers, growth habit, leaf types etc. The garden is designed to display some old favorites as well as new releases. Plants are arranged alphabetically in beds with several species of plants like Achillea, Agastache, Allium, and Amsonia interplanted to give the look of a mixed perennial border. The site is the home to the Bluegrass Iris Societies iris display and the recently added daylily collection from the Princeton research farm.