AAS 2015 Winners

This week I’ll conclude my review of the latest All-America Selections winners.

Until 2015, only seed-grown plants were eligible for consideration for an award. Cutting-grown plants have become much more prominent in our gardens in recent years, and as the assortment increases program leaders felt that the AAS trial process would also help identify the best garden performers in this class.

The first-ever winners propagated from cuttings are impatiens hybrids. Plant breeders have been scrambling to find alternatives to Impatiens walleriana, stricken in recent years by a new and devastating mildew disease. Both of these hybrids are improvements over the New Guinea impatiens, with similar flower size and foliage, but increased vigor and more profuse flowering in shade.

Bounce Pink Flame has large pink flowers with a bold magenta streak in the center of each petal. Plants have an incredible ability to bounce back from wilting. SunPatiens Spreading Shell Pink is covered with flowers through the season, in sun or shade. Vigorous plants establish quickly and thrive even in heat, rainy weather and humidity.

Petunia Trilogy Red sports large, vibrant, non-fading flowers that bloom nonstop—without cycles of bloom and rest—creating an impressive display in planters and hanging baskets.

Salvia Summer Jewel White is the third color in a series, joining past AAS winners red and pink. Like its siblings, it provides an impressive display of densely-flowered spikes on compact plants. Individual blooms are larger than other salvias of the same type, and were favored by butterflies, hummingbirds and bees.

The remaining seven winners for 2015 are in the vegetable category.

Sandy is the first lettuce to take an award in nearly 30 years. Sweet, tasty deep-green lobed leaves are resistant to powdery mildew and slow to bolt. Harvest as a cut-and-come-again or allow plants to form loose heads.

Roxanne radish produces bright red roots with crisp white flesh and good flavor. Texture is good even if it gets oversized, staying firm with no pithiness. Harvest 27 days from sowing.

We expect zucchini to be prolific, and Bossa Nova will not disappoint. Plants stay compact and in trials produced up to three weeks longer than other varieties. Light gray-green fruit are easy to spot, making it easy to harvest thoroughly and prevent unwanted gunboats.

Butterscotch is a butternut-type winter squash with petite six-inch fruit weighing about 1.25 pounds each. Flavor is sweet and nutty.

A nice assortment of peppers rounds out the options.

Emerald Fire jalapeño produces extra-large, 3.5 inch long fruit that’s flavorful and has the classic heat of its class; ideal for stuffing, grilling or salsas. Compact plants produce abundant yields of deep green, thick-walled deep green peppers about 90 days from transplant, and will mature to red.

Fresno-type peppers tend to be fussy growers and need a dry hot summer to perform well. Flaming Flare breaks the mold, giving us an opportunity to try it in our gardens. Sweet, spicy, tapered fruits reach nearly four inches long. Harvest red 75 days from transplant, and fruit left longer on the plant will develop more heat.

Pretty N Sweet pepper looks as good as it tastes. Compact plants each provide up to 100 sweet, tasty 1.5 inch mini-peppers that mature to shades of yellow, orange and red just 60 days from transplant. Grow it as a decorative plant or in the vegetable garden. 

Dolce Fresca is a sweet basil with a tidy, mounded shape and large, attractive foliage. Great tasting leaves are perfect for pesto and sauces. Start harvesting just 20-28 days from seed, and pinch off flower buds as they form to prolong the season.

Keep all of the AAS winners in mind as you plan your 2015 garden!

Basil DolceFresca

Lettuce Sandy

Pepper Emerald Fire

Pepper Flaming Flare

Pepper Pretty N Sweat

Squash Bossa Nova

Squash Butter Scotch

Salvia Summer Jewel White

Impatiens Bounce Pink Flame