Growing Things: A look at the 2024 All-America Selections winners

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Every year around this time I like to talk about the new plant introductions of All-America Selections.

For those of you new to gardening, All-America Selections (AAS) is an independent, non-profit organization that tests new varieties throughout North America. The organization then introduces only the best garden performers as AAS winners. Independent AAS judges determine the AAS winners by judging and scoring the entries.

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The main categories are annuals, perennials, and edibles/vegetables. These are a few more examples of the annual winners that caught my eye for 2024. The 2025 winners will be announced soon as well. My favourites are:

– Dianthus ‘Interspecific Capitán Magnifica’: This new Dianthus variety impressed the judges as it continued blooming and growing even through summer’s heat. One quick shearing after blooming and it bounced back with a profusion of beautiful pink blooms that sport a consistent, light pink edging. This new introduction is more heat tolerant than traditional dianthus varieties. These also have stems long enough to be used as cut flowers. Bonus, the more flower stems cut for indoor enjoyment, the more blooms this Capitán puts forth.

– Zinnia ‘Zydeco Fire’: This new Zinnia really caught my eye. It features fully double flowers that are noticeably larger than the comparisons. The brilliant, fiery orange blooms continue blooming right up until the first frost. The bonus is not only the long-lasting blooms but also the disease-resistant foliage.

– Celosia ‘Burning Embers’: This new Celosia was bred for its striking bronze foliage with dark pink veins that contrast nicely with the vibrant pink flower plumes. Plants are well-branched and produce more flowers over a longer bloom time. Numerous AAS Judges commented that this entry had the largest and longest-lasting flowers of all the celosia varieties they trialed. Plus, Burning Embers does very well in both heat and humidity while remaining completely covered with blooms that withstood the test of time.

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For more information on AAS and to see previous winners, visit all-americaselections.org.

This is just a reminder that these plants are very new to the market and may not be available at your local garden centres or greenhouses for this upcoming growing season. So please don’t write in asking where you can find these plants or the seeds, as I cannot tell you since I don’t know when or if they will arrive locally this season.

Every week, Growing Things Outdoors runs online at edmontonjournal.com or, if you prefer an epaper format, epaper.edmontonjournal.com

Learn more by emailing your questions to filipskigerald@gmail.com, reading past columns or my book Just Ask Jerry. You can also follow me on Twitter @justaskjerry01.

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