Although shrubs and in particular garden roses are also tested, the focus of the Sichtungsgarten is on the trialling of herbaceous perennials, which are arranged into long beds.

Horticulturist Karl Foerster called for the establishment of trial gardens in Germany as early as 1920, but initial attempts failed due to the Second World War.

[1] Foerster's student Richard Hansen succeeded in establishing a trial garden at Weihenstephan in the Bavarian municipality of Freising in 1947.

[5] In 1981 Hansen, together with Friedrich Stahl, summarized the findings from Weihenstephan in a book titled Die Stauden und ihre Lebensbereiche, which was translated into English as Perennials and their Garden Habitats in 1993.

These gardens are affiliated with the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Science (HSWT) and funded by the state of Bavaria.

The number of personnel tending to the gardens was reduced by nearly 30% in the 2000s and 2010s as a result of the austerity policy of the Bavarian government.

Fifteen such associations appealed to the Bavarian State Parliament and the university, asking that the gardens be sufficiently and sustainably staffed and financed.

Other trials seek to understand how various survival strategies in plants may translate to their use in a garden setting; or to compare the efficiency of different labor-saving maintenance regimes.

[5] The horticulturist Charles Quest-Ritson describes the Sichtungsgarten Weihenstephan as "the leading station in the country for horticultural trials of any kind".

[3] The Sichtungsgarten's role as a research and teaching garden is emphasized by the arrangement of plants into long experimental beds.

[8] Kingsbury finds youthfulness and liveliness to be the garden's shaping qualities and attributes them to the presence of students and visitors.

[2] The south-facing slope features steppe species arranged in the fashion of a heathland as well as rock gardens, a pond, and a pool.

While the perennials, particularly the ornamental grasses, provide continuity, the half-hardy species are used for structure throughout summer months and may be changed every year to trial new color and form combinations.

Dwarf Aster dumosus cultivars, used for filling in gaps and smothering weeds, are some of the prominent subjects that used to be more popular garden plants in the past.