All America Selections compete and become winners for gardeners

One of the joys of Diane Blazek’s job is walking through the All America Selections trial gardens. The AAS executive director was strolling through a field of ornamental peppers when she was struck by ‘Onyx Red.’
“It made me stop and look,” she says. “It was so vibrant, the leaves are so black, and the fruits are so red — definitely a stunning plant.”

Every year, a new group of plants win the title of All America Selections, a prestigious honor that’s hard to achieve. AAS is a nonprofit that has 30 to 40 experienced growers across the country who judge new varieties against similar plants. One good example is ‘Jasper,’ a tomato winner from 2013 which showed improvement over the 1999 winner, ‘Juliet.’ The former has been a staple in gardens since its introduction. The plant produces two-ounce, oblong fruits prolifically. ‘Jasper’ is now the standard as it’s higher yielding with sweeter fruit.

‘Roulette’ is a habanero pepper without the heat. This AAS winner is just one of the interesting varieties that are new this season.

The volunteer judges never know the name of what they are growing. They know it’s a tomato or zinnia, but their job is to evaluate it against the other variety. “To become an AAS winner, it must perform better than what it was grown against,” Blazek adds. The competing cultivars are listed on the organization’s web site for gardeners interesting in learning more about the winners. Since the seeds and plants are trialed anonymously, the process is transparent, meaning that since 1932 gardeners have been able to trust the results and know that these plants are superior to what they are judged against. Another interesting twist is that AAS never knows how many varieties will be judged. They rely solely on breeders to send their best cultivars to compete.
Another variety to win this year is an annual baby’s breath, gypsophila ‘Gypsy White Improved,’ which beat out ‘Gypsy Compact White.’ The improved variety has beautiful semi double white flowers and is bigger than its competitor, making a mound of airy blooms.
‘Red Racer’ tomato is early and tasty, putting on lots of small, three-ounce tomatoes. It was released last July and given to growers who reported the plant put lots of fruit on even with such a late start. Unfortunately Blazek couldn’t enjoy them, as she was traveling a lot at the end of the summer. “My family got something out of them, I just wasn’t at home,” she said with a chuckle.
Canna ‘South Pacific Orange’ is unique in that it is one of the only cannas that can be grown from seed and has an intense orange flower. “It’s absolutely perfect for someone who really wants a tropical look,” Blazek says. She adds that it’s a very easy plant to start from seed. They should be sown inside under lights in March.
Pak choi ‘Asian Delight’ has quite a buzz going on in the gardening community. Small Asian greens are all the rage. This heading Chinese cabbage is slow to bolt and has deep green leaves with white ribs.
Habanero pepper ‘Roulette’ gives gardeners the unique flavor of habaneros without the pain. Enjoy the smoky taste with barely any heat.
Hungarian peppers ‘Mexican Sunrise’ and ‘Mexican Sunset’ churn out the fruit. They begin light green then eventually change to orange and then red. ‘Sunset’ is the high heat version and ‘Sunrise’ is milder.
Corn ‘American Dream’ is a bicolor corn that is super sweet, tender and early, producing in 77 days. “We have not had a corn winner in 15 years,” Blazek says, which means it should be something special.
Marigold ‘Super Hero Spry’ holds its burgundy and orange flowers well above the foliage on compact (10-12 inch) plants.

Like all gardeners, Blazek wants to try all the latest winners but wonders where to plant them. The night before she spoke on the phone about these varieties, Blazek was sketching out her garden plan and just like the rest of us realized what to do.
“Oh this is crazy, I can’t plan ahead,” she said, laughing. “I’m just going to have to fit it in wherever I can.”

Doug Oster is editor of Everybody Gardens, a website operated by 535Media, LLC. Reach him at 412-965-3278 or doster@535mediallc.com. See other stories, videos, blogs, tips and more at everybodygardens.com.

Marigold ‘Super Hero Spry’ is one of the interesting AAS winners that are new this season.