Although it is technically still winter — at least until March 19 — the flowers will soon be in bloom at Colorado State University’s Trial Garden. That is where many of the flower varieties hitting garden stores in the coming weeks undergo a rigorous, real-world testing process to see which varieties are resilient enough for Northern Colorado.

The garden was started back in the 1970s on a small plot of land near the old stadium, with only around 100 plant varieties. It's now one of the largest university trial gardens in the nation – with hundreds of varieties and tens of thousands of plants.

"It's just rows of rainbows. There are so many different colors out there," said KUNC's Emma VandenEinde. She covered the final rounds of plant judging last summer.

As spring approaches and sunny days wait in the wings, we are listening back to a conversation with VandenEinde about her time in the garden.