2010 All American Selection winners

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All-America Selections is the oldest, most established international, independent testing organization in North America for flowers and vegetables grown from seed. Each year since 1932, The All-American Selections Board has selected and promoted new garden seed varieties with superior garden performance. The flower trials for 2010 are complete, and the four winners have been announced.

This year features two bedding plant winners. Bedding plants are judged for uniformity, earliness, flower quality and size and overall garden performance.

“Twinny Peach” snapdragon is a unique double variety, with a peach color uncommon to snapdragons. A full sun annual, it will produce many flowers ideal for fresh bouquets. They bloom all season with minimal care and pair nicely with the blue tones of “salvia” or purple leaved foliage plants.

“Zahara Starlight Rose” zinnia, a bicolor rose and white flower, is resistant to leaf spot and mildew, which attack old-fashioned zinnias. It is also heat and drought tolerant, and requires little care for maximum bloom. With a plant height of 12” to 14”, it is ideal as a drift of garden bloom or as a focus plant in container gardens.

Flower winners are evaluated for color, novel flower form, disease and pest tolerance and resistance, length of flowering season, fragrance and overall ornamental qualities. The 2010 winner in this category is “Mesa Yellow” gallardia. Covered with three-inch daisy-like flowers, this plant continues to bloom throughout the summer. This maintenance-free hybrid has a neat, mounding habit, making it ideal for smaller gardens and containers. It is also wind and rain resistant, and will recover quickly from severe weather (critical for our sometimes severe summers).

The final winner, in the Cool Season category, which evaluates frost tolerance, is “Endurio Sky Blue Martien” viola. This viola has a spreading/mounding habit, and is tolerant of wind, rain, cold temperature and passing snowfalls. It blooms in early spring, and again, as temperatures cool, in the autumn. Its six-inch tall, 10” to 12” wide growing habit brightens your garden, or adds color and interest in window boxes and hanging gardens.

Look for these varieties in your favorite seed catalogs this winter, or check out the following Minnesota nurseries for started plants: Wagner Greenhouses Inc., Minneapolis; Rolling Hills Greenhouse, Pierz; Green Valley Greenhouse, Ramsey; Hacker’s Tree Farm Nursery, Sleepy Eye; Linder’s Greenhouses & Garden Center, St. Paul; Spruce Up Nursery, Warren; and Nelson Nursery, Inc., Zimmerman.

Until next time, happy gardening!

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