Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

The best blooms become All-America beauties

A select few new flowers get the seal of approval each year from All-America Selections judges. And those that do produce superior results.

By Yvonne Swanson, Special to the Times
Published August 25, 2007

In the world of flowers, there are winners and there are losers. We're all familiar with loser plants, those annuals or perennials that didn't quite live up to their picture on the seed packet or plant tag. Despite our best efforts, sometimes we're stuck with a dud in the garden.

But there are tried-and-true varieties that are considered superior to their peers. For the past 75 years, flower and vegetable seeds, as well as plants, have been tested across the United States and Canada by a network of impartial judges on behalf of an Illinois nonprofit group, All-America Selections. The group, which tests only cultivars that are new to market, describes itself as the oldest, most established international testing organization in North America.

Since 1932, All-America Selections has named hundreds of flowers as "winners" based on desirable qualities such as novel flower forms, colors, fragrance, length of flowering season and disease or pest tolerances or resistance. The seeds are typically grown at test sites at North American universities or horticultural institutions.

For 2008, just two flowers will be declared winners: a white daisy (Osteospermum F1 "Asti White") and a viola (Viola F1 "Skippy XL Plum-Gold"). Both plants can be grown in Florida and should be available in seed packets or bedding plants this fall or spring.

The "Asti White" daisy produces 2 1/2-inch-wide blooms of pure white with a blue center. Unlike most other daisies native to South Africa, its flowers remain open under cloudy conditions. It is drought-tolerant and thrives in a sunny garden bed or container. At full size, "Asti White" is about 20 inches tall and wide. Bred by Goldsmith Seeds, its common names are African Daisy, Blue-eyed Daisy and Cape Daisy.

"Skippy XL Plum-Gold" viola produces a profusion of 1 1/2-inch blooms on petite plants that grow just 8 inches tall and may be perennial in Southern regions. Plum-colored petals, gold centers and black markings called "whiskers" distinguish these pretty plants that were produced by Kieft Seeds Holland.

The 2007 winners, which include a celosia, petunia and vinca, were chosen, in part, for their hardiness and extremely low maintenance. Bright golden celosia "Fresh Look Gold" (Celosia plumosa), which produces a feathery plume, doesn't need deadheading because it doesn't brown with age. It's a sun-loving annual that thrives in heat and humidity and doesn't attract pests. Petunia F1 "Opera Supreme Pink Morn" (Petunia x hybrida) is a vigorous trailing variety that continuously flowers. Its blooms are iridescent pink with creamy white centers. Plants are compact and grow only 4 to 6 inches high, but spread quickly. Especially heat- and drought-tolerant, vinca "Pacifica Burgundy Halo" (Catharanthus roseus) thrives in full sun planting beds and containers. It grows a foot tall and wide and requires little maintenance. It's the first vinca bred with a burgundy halo surrounding the large white center.

Even among each year's winners, there are a select few (only four in all) that All-America Selections considers its cream of the crop, bestowing its "All America Classic" title. One goes to the dianthus F1 "Ideal Violet," which was introduced in 1992. Cold- and heat-tolerant, it produces single violet blooms.

Another classic, pansy F1 "Majestic Giants Mix" was the first pansy that could be planted in the Southern fall garden when it was introduced in 1966. Eight inches tall with 4-inch blooms in colors ranging from blue, scarlet, red, yellow and orange to white, this winner thrives in full sun or partial shade.

The other two classics are petunias that are as different as night and day. Petunia F1 "Ultra Crimson Star" produces 4-inch crimson flowers with pure white stars in each center. Introduced in 1988, this compact grower is a continuous bloomer that doesn't require pinching or blooming.

Petunia F1 "Wave Purple" was the first petunia to grow horizontally on the soil like a ground cover when it was introduced in 1992. The unusual plant habit was developed by crossing numerous petunia species.

For a complete list of all the winners, visit www.all-americaselections.org.

Yvonne Swanson is a freelance writer in St. Petersburg and a master gardener for Pinellas County.

[Last modified August 23, 2007, 16:06:26]