Every year the All-American Selection of vegetables and flowers comes out with winners of excellence in hardiness and breeding for the upcoming year.
This year’s flowers begin with a celosia called Candela Pink. It has bright pink blooms with keep coming thru the growing season. Works good in containers or mass plantings and can be dried.
Another annual flower is the zinnia Profusion Red Yellow. A bicolor zinnia starting with a bright red center area with yellow outer petals. Like with most zinnias, they will bloom over the season until frost.
A perennial made it into the AAS which is more unusual is the Leucanthemum Sweet Daisy Birdy. Its hardiness is down to zone 3 with both heat and cold tolerance. The blooms are 5” across white good for a moonlit garden. Being a type of Shasta Daisy, it is a low maintenance plant.
As for vegetables, let us start with an onion called Echalion Crème Brulee. It is a shallot grown from seed with a single center bulb. The bulbs are sweeter than most shallots with a slight citrus flavor.
Next is a pepper Pot-a-peno, a compact pepper you can grow in a hanging pot. It is a jalapeno type, early maturing plant.
Lastly is an acorn winter squash called Goldilocks. It is a vigorous plant with high yields. The color is bright orange making it has a dual eating and decorating fruit.