379 AAS Award-Winning Garden Plants for 2025

Show Transcript

379 TRANSCRIPT 2025 AAS Garden Plant Winners

Farmer Fred:

Hi, it’s Farmer Fred, Master Gardener Fred Hoffman, and today we are talking with  with Diane Blazek, the executive director of All-America Selections, the (AAS), to explore the newly announced 2025 winners of top-performing garden plant varieties. 

It’s episode number 379, the 2025 AAS Garden Plant Winners.

We’re podcasting from Barking Dog Studios here in the beautiful Abutilon Jungle in Suburban Purgatory. It’s the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you today by Dave Wilson Nursery. Let’s go! 

2025 AAS PLANT WINNERS, pt. 1

Farmer Fred:

 If you've listened to the Garden Basics podcast for any length of time, you know that when myself and my guests come around to recommending varieties of plants to grow in the yard, we tend to veer towards those that are winners, specifically All-America Selections winners to try if you've never tried a

particular vegetable or flower or herb before. Who is All-America Selections? Well, they're an independent nonprofit organization that tests new, never-before-sold varieties for the home gardener. They do anonymous trialing by volunteer horticultural professionals, and then only the top garden performers are given the AAS winner award designation for their superior performance. The proceeds go into conducting trials and promoting AAS winners, both old and new. There are national winners, there are regional winners. And if we start talking about certain AAS winners, and it's a regional winner, we'll mention that too, if maybe it's best for the West or best for the Northeast or whatever.

Farmer Fred:

And the AAS, the All-America Selections, just came out with their 2025 winners, vegetables and flowers that judges throughout the country have said, hey, you ought to try these. So let's begin. Diane Blazek is our guest. She is the executive director of All America Selections, as well as the executive director of the National Garden Bureau. And Diane, it's a pleasure talking with you again and talking about the wonderful new plants that are out there. And I guess we should point out that a lot of these are available as seed and some are available as plants.

Diane Blazek:

Yes, you are exactly right. But yes, thank you for having me again. And your description of AAS was wonderful. And you are exactly correct that many of these are available as seed items, but you can also find them as plants at your local retailer. Some of the newer ones, you may have to search a little bit harder, but after they've been on the market for a certain amount of time, they're very readily available.

Farmer Fred:

 You know, you don't look that old, but you've been doing this since 1932. 

Diane Blazek:

You're right. I have been. Yeah. Maybe this job keeps you young. I don't know.

Farmer Fred:

 Well, actually, let's talk a little bit about the history of it. Ray Hastings, he was a seedsman from Georgia and he got people together to do this.

Diane Blazek:

 Yes, exactly. I always like to call him a Doubting Thomas because this was the time between the two world wars when there was a lot of new hybridizing going on. So there were a lot of new introductions. I mean, some of them were F1 hybrids, some of them were selections that were Open Pollinated varieties. But he was looking at all these new varieties saying, “I’m not sure you're making all these claims. Who's going to validate your claims?” So he started All America Selections and it put together a network at the time. There were maybe a dozen or so judges across North America. And you're right. They were trialing them anonymously. They were comparing them to other varieties currently on the market. And those entries had to live up to the claims of the breeder in order to win an AAS award.

Farmer Fred:

 And the judges were from all across the country. Weren't they?

Diane Blazek:

  Yes, all across U.S. and Canada, which we still have.  There were, I think I said 12 to 15 judges back in the 1930s, but today we have a total of almost 90 judges across our different trials because we try to have at least four judges per region. You had mentioned regional awards, and yes, we have six regions. So, we try to keep a minimum of four judges in each region to get a good balance of microclimates within those regions.

Farmer Fred:

 Yeah, because let's face it, if you're talking about the Southwest, it can run from very mild to very hot. 

Diane Blazek:

 Right. And we need to test these new varieties in all of those conditions.

Farmer Fred:

 It's been growing over the years. The first winners were introduced in 1933. And at your website, the all-americaselections.org website, you can go back and look at all these winners and the descriptions. So I would heartily encourage you, if you're planning your first garden, and you're wondering, well, what tomato variety should I plant? Well, go to All America Selections and look it up and start with some of those. All right, let's talk about the 2025 winners. And since I'm kind of a tomato head, I noticed that you have one tomato winner this year. I'll let you pronounce it. What is it?

Diane Blazek:

It's called Tomato Tonatico.

Farmer Fred:

Tonatico (toe-NOT-ick-o). OK.

Diane Blazek:

 Yes. T-O-N-A-T-I-C-O. Yes. I had to ask the breeder right away, too. I was like, how are you pronouncing this one? But this one is a nice cherry tomato. And you had said that we would talk about regions. So this is a regional winner, definitely for the mountain and southwest, like basically west of the Rockies, but also for the northeast, which is kind of an interesting combination. But those are the two areas where the judges said it outperformed the comparison. So it's a cherry tomato, grows on trusses. It is an indeterminate. But it has high yield, very good tasting fruits, texture, and disease resistance. So, of course, that's what we're always looking for is the items that are disease resistant.

Farmer Fred:

 One aspect that a lot of the judges agreed on with this tomato is there's not much cracking and splitting of the fruit.

Diane Blazek:

 Right, right. Yeah, because we hate that. You go out to harvest your tomatoes and they're already split and the ants or the birds have gotten them because they split. So this way, you're going to have more usable fruits when they aren't splitting like that.

Farmer Fred:

I see where they've compared it to the Super Sweet 100. So if you're thinking about what sort of a cherry tomato it is, well, if you have ever grown or familiar with the Super Sweet 100, this would be similar to that. It is an indeterminate, which means it's going to sprawl. So you better cage it.

Diane Blazek:

 Exactly. Cage it or truss it or definitely give it some sort of support.

Farmer Fred:

 All right. So, again, if you're looking for a cherry tomato to try that's new, tomato Tonatico is the name. Good. I'm glad I got that right. But you have a pepper winner, too, as well. And there's only one pepper winner. I'm surprised,  because usually there's usually plenty of peppers each year.

Farmer Fred:

 But this is a nice little sweet pepper called the Pick N Pop. 

Diane Blazek:

Yes. Now, this one was super fun to write the description.  A lot of these this year seem to have those names that just would let you introduce something fun. So I was using the whole “Peter Piper picked a peck of…” on our description. But the reason it has its name, Pick N Pop, is because they're so tantalizing and they're smaller. So we call them a snacking pepper. So we're envisioning grabbing them, picking them off the plant and popping them in your mouth. The key here is that they're yellow. So it's a yellow pepper, a small, petite, snacking pepper, very sweet, juicy, crunchy, it makes you salivate, makes you hungry when you're talking about it.

Farmer Fred:

 The fruit itself is what, about four inches long?

Diane Blazek:

 Yeah, I would say four inches max.

Farmer Fred:

How tall does the plant get?

Diane Blazek:

 Now, the plant will get, oh, about 24, 26, 36 inches tall.

Farmer Fred:

And I noticed that one of the comparisons they're making with this pepper, the Pick N Pop yellow pepper, is they're comparing it to another variety called Lunchbox Yellow. And I think that's a great description for this pick N pop pepper. Put it in your kid's lunchbox for school.

Diane Blazek:

 Yeah, good, good point. And that is what so many people are using these peppers for. You know, get the kids to try these sweet peppers. They'll love them for life.

Farmer Fred:

 And you conveniently at your website, when describing these plants, especially for the peppers, you have Scoville ratings. And this has a Scoville rating of zero, which means there's no heat whatsoever. So you're not going to burn anybody's lips or tongue with it.

Diane Blazek:

 Right. I don't think you'd be putting them in your children's lunchbox. I don't know.

Farmer Fred:

It depends who and where you are. Here in California, peppers with heat are fairly standard these days in a lot of recipes and restaurants.

Diane Blazek:

 Yeah, this is true.

Farmer Fred:

Speaking of which, I've got a question from a listener who has an aversion to hot peppers and was looking for a pepper to include in a recipe that called for Poblanos.  And Poblanos are on the low side as far as the Scoville scale goes. Maybe before we get started on the question, we should explain the Scoville scale for people. This is a measurement of heat of peppers that was designed, I think, the guy owned a pharmacy back in 1900 or sometime like that. And it was a matter of adding water to each sample that was tasted to determine the heat?

Diane Blazek:

Well, I remember when I was first reading about this, it's interesting that it was so subjective, you know, because one person's determination. But, yes, that's what he was doing was setting up a scale for Scoville units.

Farmer Fred:

 Exactly. And the higher the number, the more heat there is. Right. And another thing, too, if you're looking at a pepper catalog and you're looking for some  low heat peppers, and this gets back to the question that I had from a listener who had a recipe that called for poblanos and wanted maybe some other choices of low heat peppers that wouldn't burn their mouth. So we're probably looking at peppers that are under 1,000 or 1,500 Scoville units. The problem is, as I said about these catalogs, they can vary widely in what they say the Scoville unit scale is for a particular pepper. So let your taste buds be your guide. And also remember that peppers can change. The longer they're in the garden, the more stress they're under. If they are hot peppers, they'll get hotter if they're stressed, if there is a drought, if they're not fed correctly. if you do get that heat wave that gets over 100 degrees for a couple of weeks in a row. So basically, buyer beware on that one.  Let's talk about some of the AAS winners over the years that would fit that category of low heat peppers.  And in my own research, besides the Poblano, I found things like the Cubanelle and the aji dulce, also known as the cachucha pepper, which are pretty low. But you had one not too long ago that was an AAS winner that I really liked. I remember growing it called the Mexibell.

Diane Blazek:

Yeah, the Mexibell. It actually looks more like a sweet pepper, but does have just a little bit of heat. And it's a nice red pepper, you know, if you let it mature to red. So that would be a good choice. I think the Mariachi would be another one. Now that one does go up to maybe 1,500 or 2,000. Now that's not a bell pepper. That's a little conical shaped pepper, but that would be a good alternative. I was pleasantly surprised the Holy Mole, you know, when you hear holy, you might think that it's got a lot of heat to it, but it actually, I think it was under a thousand Scoville units too. So that might be a good alternative.

Farmer Fred:

And some others that I've grown over the years that I've really liked that were AAS winners that have a little bit of heat, not too much, the Pota-peno, which is, I think, about a thousand Scoville units.

Diane Blazek:

Right, right. It is. And this one's really cool. The reason it's called jalapeno, it is a jalapeno pepper, but it is bred to be very compact. So it grows well in containers or hanging baskets. But yeah, I like that one, too, because it is a little bit more of a mild jalapeno.

Farmer Fred:

 Some others that I looked in one particular catalog, and they did classify their peppers in their catalog as sweet, mildly hot, and really hot. And among the mildly hot ones that were AAS winners that they listed were Mad Hatter, Roulette Habanero, Hot Sunset, and Cajun Bell. Now, all of those sound like they're a lot hotter than just a little bit of heat.

Diane Blazek:

 Yeah, exactly. I've grown Aji Rico and tried it. I think they're describing it as warm. And I didn't have the exact Scoville units on that. But I would say that's on the higher end of it. But Mad Hatter, I didn't think it had much heat in it at all. I would... It talks about that one with a citrusy flavor. So I'm thinking it's more like a citrusy hot pepper that's hardly hot at all.

Farmer Fred:

 Okay. And that one is from, I believe, Bolivia and Peru.

Diane Blazek:

 The Baccatum type peppers are from South America. So, yeah, the Aji Rico and the Mad Hatter are both used in a lot of South American dishes.

Farmer Fred:

Another one I mentioned is called Hot Sunset. That has a red flag of a name for me. but it says that it's only about 600 Scoville units. So they describe it as a delicious spicy heat.

Diane Blazek:

 Yes, yeah, yeah. That's a good one to have in there. And it's more like a banana pepper just to kind of describe the shape and everything.

Farmer Fred:

So among the winners over the years, you can find a palette of colors and different spicinesses, if there is such a word, among your mildly hot pepper selections if you have recipes or you want it to look nice in a salad or something like that. So just be aware that if the plant is stressed, if there is a drought, if there is a lack of water, if you didn't feed it properly, if it maybe didn't get enough sun, anything that may cause it stress, could, and especially later in the season, too, as it grows, that heat level could go up.

Diane Blazek:

 Exactly. Grower beware. Put it that way.

Farmer Fred:

Yeah, exactly. And another one with a name that sounds like it would be really hot, but really it's more mild than really hot, is called Roulette habanero. Habaneros are fairly hot peppers, but this one is not.

Diane Blazek:

 Exactly. Right. Yeah. I mean, with a name like roulette, you would think you're taking a chance, but you really aren't. This one has no heat, you know, so it's got all that flavor, which if you can stand the heat and taste the flavor of a roulette of habanero, this one gives you the flavor without the heat. So it's kind of a unique adventure for somebody to breed a hot pepper that doesn't

Diane Blazek:

 have the spiciness. It just has the flavor.

Farmer Fred:

 Now, we should clarify, it does have a little bit of heat, according to one catalog I'm looking at. It has 100 Scoville heat units.

Diane Blazek:

 Yeah, and that's, you know, barely discernible, I would think.

Farmer Fred:

Right. So, again, that was the Roulette habanero. And, again, go to their website, all-americaselections.org or aaswinners.com. We'll have a link to it in the show notes as well. And just start browsing through not only their 2025 winners, but all their past winners, too. And you can do it by variety. So if you're looking for a certain color, a certain heat, or a certain shape, you'll probably find it there. Because after more than 90 years of trialing, yeah, there's going to be a lot there at the website.

Diane Blazek:

 Exactly. Now, we have done one thing to help people and we're actually got another one coming up. So I'll give you a little sneak preview on that. But we used to list every single winner on our website, no matter if they were still commercially available or not. And we had too many complaints. They're like, well, why do you feature this if we can't buy it anymore? So we are slowly taking off the ones that have been removed from the market. So as you say, when you go on in search, there's a lot there. There's still a lot there. And all of those now are either currently available or will be very shortly. So that's one thing. And then also on each AAS winner is there's a little button on it that says where to buy. And then there's a dropdown of online seed retailers. So keep in mind, a lot of these are also available in seed packets. At your stores, at your local hardware, garden center, mass merchant. But we also link to a lot of online seed sources who are carrying those varieties. So we're trying to make it very easy for you to find the AAS winners. And we're launching a new website this fall. And it will be even easier for us. I mean, I don't know if anybody cares, but it's even easier for us to update those where to buy buttons. So everything will be a lot more up to date as far as where to purchase them.

Farmer Fred:

There's a full time job.

Diane Blazek:

 OK, yeah, exactly. And we're trying to make it a part time job.

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2025 AAS PLANT WINNERS, pt. 2

Farmer Fred:

All right. Let's get back to the 2025 winners of the All-America Selections.

Farmer Fred:

Let's talk about an herb, a basil variety. It's called the Piedmont. What's so special about the Piedmont basil?

Diane Blazek:

 So the big thing with basil, at least in my area and in a lot of areas, is the downy mildew that will just come and devastate your plant almost overnight. And so what the breeders are working on now is the downy mildew resistance as a trait, but also to keep that traditional Genovese flavor. And so this one is a very, very good contender in that arena as far as resisting the downy mildew. What's also really nice, of course, yes, it has that good Genovese flavor, but also the structure of this plant. It's not real tall and leggy. It's got shorter internodes so that it's going to produce a lot of leaves on a fairly compact plant.

Farmer Fred:

 Well, that's great. The plant gets what, about a couple of feet tall?

Diane Blazek:

Yeah. Yeah. Max about 24 inches. Yeah.

Farmer Fred:

All right. And because it has the tolerances to downy mildew or powdery mildew or fusarium, it is a regional winter in areas of high humidity, I would guess, like the Great Lakes and the Midwest. 

Diane Blazek:

 Yes, exactly. This is where I'm located. So I'm loving this. But now I don't have to worry as much about downy mildew.

Farmer Fred:

 And the other thing, too, is if you put proper separation between your plants and put it in an area that can get good air circulation, you can help decrease the chances of coming down with those diseases.

Diane Blazek:

Oh, yes. I mean, that's true on a lot of plants, like you're saying, is give your plants some good airflow. Don't stuff them in. And yeah, you're going to right there, take the first step to preventing a lot of diseases.

Farmer Fred:

But with the basil, the Piedmont variety, even though it is a regional winner, does that mean it's not good for the West Coast or the Northeast?

Diane Blazek:

 No, it doesn't mean that. It just meant that it didn't outperform the comparison. And it was probably more in equal to the comparison, which means it's still a great variety. But that's the thing with AAS Winners is they have to outperform what's currently on the market.

Farmer Fred:

Well, there is that too. All right. But one judge did mention that the Piedmont basil has strong aroma and taste.

Diane Blazek:

 And that's what we need. I mean, that's why we're growing basil, right? If it didn't have that good basil flavor and smell, then why bother? All right.

Farmer Fred:

Another winner in the vegetable category is a cauliflower.There are purple florets on this one.

Diane Blazek:

 It's attention getting. I was just at a convention the last couple of days and I had a picture of this one on my table. And I'm telling you, everybody was drawn to it. So I'm going to try to give a visual. They've got some really nice photography and it's on a black background. So just imagine, first of all, it's a sprouting cauliflower. So it has very long stems and it's not a big cauliflower like brain looking thing. It's a stem. So it has the long florets and the long stems and a nice vivid violet purple. And the name of this is called Murasaki Fiorieto. Murasaki means “purple” in Japanese. And this is from a Japanese breeding company.

Farmer Fred:

But Fioretto sounds Italian.

Diane Blazek:

Exactly. It does. Yeah.

Farmer Fred:

 All right. So, but it is, it's an interesting little, how little is the cauliflower? It's not that little, is it?

Diane Blazek:

 No, it's not.  the plant will grow to 18 inches and then the flower heads are growing about the same size to the top of that plant.

(sound of barking dogs)

Farmer Fred:

Okay. By the way, we are podcasting from Barking Dog Studios, if anybody hasn't figured that out yet. And the number of fruits that it produces per plant is four pounds.

Diane Blazek:

Yeah. So you get a decent size harvest.

Farmer Fred:

All right. And again, it's a cauliflower variety that depending upon where you live, like here in the West, you would grow it in the cool season. It's a cool season crop. Cauliflowers have been noted over the years for just being pest magnets. But when you have one that is producing instead of a tight head, but rather open florets like this one, you have less of a chance of pest problems.

Diane Blazek:

 Yeah, that's a great point.

Farmer Fred:

 All right. And the judges liked it. The variety held up to the heat with incredible durability. The color was gorgeous and it did not get sunburned at all. So I guess this one was a national winner.

Diane Blazek:

 Yes, this is definitely a national winner.

Farmer Fred:

 All right. The Cauliflower Murasaki Fioretto. Well, I'm sure at this rate we'll be done by Christmas with the 2025 ratings here for the all the winners for the All-America selections. Kohlrabi, you don't see many people trying to grow kohlrabi and you're pushing it.

Diane Blazek:

 Yes, exactly. So this one is a new one. “Constance” kohlrabi is the variety name and it's purple. That's what's so unique about this one. So not only is the color very vibrant, purple must be our theme this year with our cauliflower and now this one, but it has a crisp, sweet, peppery bulb like most kohlrabi. And I think it's one of those things you just have to try it. I mean, try growing it. I think it's great for kids to grow because you've got this huge, big, round bulb that just sits on top of the ground. And some people think it looks like a space alien or a UFO. And then once you try it, I mean, try it cooked, try it raw. I think it's a new thing that the kids would get really into.

Farmer Fred:

  And kids being the impatient people they are, don't have to worry about this kohlrabi making them wait because from sowing seed to harvest is only 42 days.

Diane Blazek:

[Right. That's very quick.

Farmer Fred:

Yeah. So you want to sow seed about four to six weeks before the average last frost, two weeks apart for an extended harvest. So at a half inch deep and in rows 18 inches apart. The judges loved it. They said good shape in color, good flavor, and a crunchy flesh. We all enjoy crunchy.

Diane Blazek:

 Exactly. Yeah.

Farmer Fred:

All right. Again, that's the kohlrabi “Constance”, a purple kohlrabi, if you like to grow kohlrabi. All right. How about in the world of squash? I think you have a couple of winners for 2025.

Diane Blazek:

We do. I mean, I could say that squash is definitely gaining a lot of interest. There's so many different types. So for these, we have two. “Green Lightning” is one, and it's a patty pan type squash, but it is a dark green with light green stripes on it. So kind of a miniature one. And it would be great to use decorative or, you know, go ahead and saute it up and it's going to taste great.

Farmer Fred:

 Exactly. And for those who don't know what a patty pan squash is, it's sort of a flattened-looking squash. It sort of reminds me of a top.

Diane Blazek:

There you go. Yeah, that's a good way to describe it. Yeah.

Farmer Fred:

All right. And patty pan squashes grow during the summer. They like the warm season. It doesn't need staking. How big does the plant get?

Diane Blazek:

It's more of a bushy type plant. It only gets, oh, 24 inches tall, maybe 24 to 36 inches wide.

Farmer Fred:

All right. So unlike zucchini, it won't strangle a poodle or something.

Diane Blazek:

Yeah, hopefully not.

Farmer Fred:

All right. So again, that's one of the squashes, the squash “green lightning”. What is the other one?

Diane Blazek:

The other one is called “Thriller”. So, of course, the Michael Jackson tune just comes flying into my mind every time I talk about this one. The reason it's called Thriller is because it, too, is kind of a dual purpose. It can definitely be used as a decorative. The shape is an acorn squash. I don't know if you want to call it tie-dye or psychedelic colors, but it's got dark green and orange and cream, a mottled color skin. And but it's it's a beauty and it tastes great, too. So, you know, what else do you want other than something that looks great? You can use it for decorative purposes in the fall, but then you can also serve it to your family and company.

Farmer Fred:

It looks kind of like a mini pumpkin.

Diane Blazek:

It does. Yeah, right. That's a good description.

Farmer Fred:

 But you're calling it a dumpling squash.

Diane Blazek:

 Right, right. Yeah. So it has a little bit of that pointy shape to the bottom of it. Yeah, it's hard to describe. This is one where you really have to go to the website to see the coloring and the shape.

Farmer Fred:

If I wanted to, I could use it as a mini pumpkin.

Diane Blazek:

Yes, you could.

Farmer Fred:

Okay. All right. Just making sure. But it is called, again, the Thriller. Is it a summer squash or a winter squash?

Diane Blazek:

 This one is a winter squash.

Farmer Fred:

 Okay. And despite the name, you do grow it in the summertime.

Diane Blazek:

Yes.

Farmer Fred:

 All right. Something else it has in common with a pumpkin.

Diane Blazek:

 Yes.

Farmer Fred:

All right. when it comes to growing flowers, I love zinnias because zinnias attract a whole host of pollinators. And most zinnias have these outstanding flowers that you can see from a distance. If you've got a kitchen garden outside of the kitchen window, I would always ring it in zinnias just for the show and the attraction to butterflies and birds and hummingbirds and things like that. And you usually do have each year in the All-America Selections winners, one or two zinnia winners, and you have two this year.

Diane Blazek:

 Yes, you're right. And listening to you talk about the pollinators, I had a webinar not too long ago. And one of the favorite terms throughout the entire webinar was a “landing pad”. Grow something that provides a landing pad for the butterflies. So we think that both of these will do that. So one of them is “Zydeco Fire.” So just think of the color of fire, a vibrant orangey red. And that's this one. It's almost fully double. And the name, this is interesting, Zydeco, you know, go Google it. It's very much a foot tapping Cajun, Louisiana type of music. So that just means celebrations, fun, happiness, which is exactly what this will bring to the garden. And then the other zinnia is called Crestar mix. So Crestar would be the crested zinnia that has that little ring of really short, poofy petals in the middle, and then it has the outer petals that are falling out. But again, that would make that landing pad for butterflies.

Farmer Fred:

Excellent. And describe the colors.

Diane Blazek:

Oh, the colors for Crestar. I mean, it's a good reason it's called a mix is it has, oh, pinks, orange, reds, white, yellows. Yeah. So a whole, you know, almost a sunset array of colors.

Farmer Fred:

 All right. And with the Zydeco zinnia, you can maybe accompany it with some Doug Kershaw music, if you'd like.

Diane Blazek:

 There you go.

Farmer Fred:

 All right. All right. So Zinnias, you've got them. You've got all sorts of Zinnias off the top of your head. How many Zinnias do you think are in the AAS collections over the years?

Diane Blazek:

 Oh, goodness. Well, and for one, you know, like the Perfusion, the whole series has been winners over the years. So I'm going to say we probably have 40 different zinnias and we do have one petunia for a winner this year. But I do want to say that the number one category of AAS winners is petunias. Everybody would think it would be tomatoes or peppers, but we've had more petunia winners than any other plant class.

Farmer Fred:

 Well, since you brought it up, let's talk about the petunias that are 2025 winners. And you've got a couple of them.

Diane Blazek:

We do. Yes, there's the petunia shake raspberry is one. And I'll try to describe it. Well, you know, I don't have to describe it. Go to your local ice cream shop, order a raspberry shake and look down in it at those swirls of colors. And that's what this petunia will look like. So I think that's the best way to describe it. And that one is a seed grown petunia. And then the other petunia that we have is called Dekko Maxx Pink. Now, this one is vegetatively propagated. It is a regional winner, so it's good. Great Lakes, Heartland, Northeast, and West and Northwest. So that would encompass a lot of parts of California. And this one is a soft pink that has darker pink veins in it. Very much a trailing spreading habit. I'm thinking it grows about 30, yeah, 24 to 36 inches wide, but stays 18 to 24 inches tall. So, you know, you're getting a lot of bang for your buck with something like a Dekko Maxx.

Farmer Fred:

A lot of the judges with the Dekko Maxx really appreciated its vigor too.

Diane Blazek:

Exactly. Yeah. And what's interesting is they bred it for the vigor to bounce back after rains. So the flowers are slightly smaller to help with that. So when a rain comes along or you water it, you know, maybe you're a little too vigorous with that hose reel. They will withstand that much better.

Farmer Fred:

 Now, you used a, I'll call it a botanical euphemism that people should be made aware of. You said “vegetatively propagated”, which in my mind means, OK, you're not going to find it as seed.

Diane Blazek:

Exactly right. Yeah, it is not propagated from seed. They do not harvest the seed. What they do is they have something called a mother plant. And then what they do is they take unrooted cuttings, which are tiny. They're usually maybe an inch tall from that mother plant. And then they just propagate additional plants from that one mother stock.

Farmer Fred:

Sort of like sourdough starter.

Diane Blazek:

 That's a good way to describe it. Yes.

Farmer Fred:

All right. But we should point out this is not a GMO plant.

Diane Blazek:

No, no. In fact, we do have this rule within that we are not accepting any GMOs. Now, just looking out for the future, you know, some people are saying, well, if it's a flower, why not? And so we're having to judge publicly acceptance of GMOs and some of the new innovations. But yes, absolutely, to date, no GMOs have gone through our trials.

Farmer Fred:

Let's talk about a vinca. Vincas are a good, I think of them as a ground cover plant. Actually, I think of Vincas kind of a weedy plant, but you can go ahead and defend it. You have an AAS winner, the Sphere Polkadot.

Diane Blazek:

 Yeah, well, the name there says it all. It's more of a sphere, so it's not going to be, you know, this weedy trailing thing. So it's going to be more compact polka dot. It's the white flower vinca with the little rose colored center. And so, yeah, what this one was bred for is the compact, the uniformity and its rounded habit with plenty of white flowers to give you that. And, you know, what's great about vinca, it is very drought and heat tolerant.

Farmer Fred:

 And it attracts pollinators.

Diane Blazek:

 There you go. And it’s another one that does that.

Farmer Fred:

 While we're on the subject of attracting pollinators to your yard, one good thing to do is think of it as installing a highway billboard in your backyard. You know, those big billboards that are on major interstates that change messages every 10 seconds or whatever. Well, think of something for your backyard like that that would attract pollinators. And that's why they suggest planting the attractive plants like the zinnias we were talking about or this vinca in its entirety in at least a three foot by three foot square. So it is has that billboard effect for any passing pollinators who may be going by. They'll spot that and make a beeline for it, so to speak.

Diane Blazek:

That's a great tip. And another kind of association with highways is, let's say you have a little strip and then your neighbor, you know, 50 yards away has another little strip. So you're kind of making a highway for them so they can come here. They're attracted and they come here and they slurp up all your pollen and nectar and then they're going to go to your neighbors. So that's a good thing to do to get your neighbors involved in planning for pollinators as well.

Farmer Fred:

Or if you have what is called back East, a hell strip. Out here, we call it a parkway, that area between the sidewalk and the street, and you want something decorative in there, planting a single variety in that area, as long as it isn't susceptible to diseases and can take a little bit of foot traffic, is a great way to also attract pollinators.

Diane Blazek:

 That's another good tip,

Farmer Fred:

Yes. All right. So the Vinca AAS winner for 2025, the Vinca Sphere Polkadot, it is. All right. We mentioned the petunias that you have, but you also have a really interesting looking snapdragon called the Double Shot Yellow Red Heart.

Diane Blazek:

Yes. So the name defines the look or the color. So Double Shot, meaning it's a double flower. Yellow red heart. So it's a yellow flower with a rosy red center to it. So it's a two-toned type flower. And this one, its sister won last year, and it was an orange bicolor. So this double shot is a whole series, and now they have two colors in that series that have won.

Farmer Fred:

 But you do have some interesting links, too, when people go to the website, all-americaselections.org, (or aaswinners.com) and they're looking at the Snapdragon we're talking about. And you have a page or a link on the instructions for this Snapdragon called Professional Grower Culture Instructions. And that can help give you some hints and clues as the best ways to grow it.

Diane Blazek:

 Oh, absolutely. Yes, it's probably way more information than you need, but we do include that so that anybody who wants to know more of the details about how to really successfully grow snapdragons would be there. And in fact, it's not just for snapdragons. We ask that for all of our winners. So wherever possible, we put your basic home gardening tips, and then we also put tips for the professional growers.

Farmer Fred:

 Apparently, somebody snuck into your website overnight, and they must belong to the Nastertium Society of America and just loaded the 2025 winners with nasturtium winners.

Diane Blazek:

Yeah, you're right. We had the first nasturtium “Baby” winner about a year and a half ago, and that was baby Rose. And so now we have three new of her sisters that are winning. So now Rose is joined by Gold, Red, and Yellow. So it's a whole series, very uniform. And when we were talking about this, I was like, okay, well, that's kind of that bridge between ornamentals and edibles because you've got nasturtiums. You can always put nasturtiums in your salad, so they're edible as well. But the great thing about these nasturtiums is that they're holding the flowers above the foliage. I know there's some nasturtiums out there that might kind of cover their flowers with their foliage, and so why bother? These have all the flowers on top of the foliage.

Farmer Fred:

Are they all regional winters?

Diane Blazek:

 Yes, they are. Yes. Some more for cooler climates, northeast, heartland, mountain area. Yeah.

Farmer Fred:

All right. And that's true for all three of the Nasturtium “Baby” varieties mentioned in 2025.

Diane Blazek:

 Yes, exactly.

Farmer Fred:

 All right. And out here, they are a cool season flowering annual that will strangle a rosebush if you don't watch out. I learned that the hard way. So what is the growth habit of these Nasturtiums? Will they strangle a rosebush?

Diane Blazek:

 No, they're very mounded. They're good for containers. They're only going to get 12 inches tall, a little bit wider than that, 18 to 20 inches wide. But yeah, they're definitely a more compact nasturtium as well.

Farmer Fred:

And it wouldn't be a summer garden without a marigold. And, of course, there's a 2025 All-America Selections marigold winner.

Diane Blazek:

 And isn't that one cool? It's called “Mango Tango”. I mentioned earlier how fun some of these descriptions are. So I had to kind of read up on the Tangos, on the tango dance. So the coloration, though, on this one, it has a red center base of the petal. And then the outer edge is yellow, a nice, vibrant yellow. And so to me, it looks kind of like the dresses that maybe might be worn for a tango, you know, kind of a Latin American vibe to it. But very saturated colors and they hold their color well. They don't fade, and there's that uniformity where one flower may not look like the next one with its bicolor. Bicolorness, is that a word?

Farmer Fred:

Sure, why not?

Diane Blazek:

Okay, we're going to call it a word today. So, yeah, that's the “Mango Tango” marigold.

Farmer Fred:

It reminds me of one of your zinnia winners. I think it was back in 2006, that is one of my all-time favorites called the Zowie Yellow Flame.

Diane Blazek:

 Yes, you're right. It does look a lot like that one. Yeah.

Farmer Fred:

Now I'm thinking, hmm, I wonder how they would look together.

Diane Blazek:

I think you're going to have to try that.

Farmer Fred:

 I'm thinking I am, too. Yeah, well, what else is new? That's what you end up when you listen to garden shows you end up planting a lot. All right we have a few more to get through here  in the 2025 winners and you have a dianthus. Explain to people what a dianthus is especially the “Capitan Magnifica”.

Diane Blazek:

 So this one, I think a lot of people call them Pinks. And, you know, that would be the common name, nothing Latin there. But the reason that it's been called pinks, I found out over the years, is if you take  pinking shears and were to cut the edges around the flower petal, it would get kind of that little jaggedy edge. And that is very typical of a lot of dianthus. Some of them have more pronounced. This particular winner is a little bit less pronounced. But what's unique is that it has light pink edge rim around the flower. So this one, one of the things that the judges loved about that was the floriferousness throughout the season. Dianthus, especially in warmer climates, might be considered a cool season and it might kind of go out of flower for a little while in the hotter climates. But the more you trim this one, deadhead it or cut off the little stems, bring them in for a little miniature flower bouquet, the more it will bloom.

Farmer Fred:

 So do you consider it an annual or a sensitive perennial?

Diane Blazek:

No, this one is an annual. It says it would be hardy to zone seven. So for a lot of people, yes, it would be an annual. But if you're zone seven or higher, then, yeah, it could be a perennial.

Farmer Fred:

] And I noticed that one judge said that “even during 110 degree heat, it only needed to be watered every other day. Truly a wonderful addition for a patio gardener with limited space and time and knowledge”. And, you know, if it can take 110 degree heat, I wonder if it would work as a summer crop here for for annuals.

Diane Blazek:

 It might. It sounds like it's worth giving it a try. It'd be a nice burst of color through the heat.

Farmer Fred:

 Well, to quote the famous gardener, Dirty Harry: “Do you feel lucky? Well, do you punk?”

Farmer Fred:

 Yeah, you'll have to see. Now, besides the Dianthus, a couple of others that you have, you have a Dahlia and you have a Celosia.

Diane Blazek:

 Okay, yes. So Dahlia, “Black Forest Ruby”. Now, it's interesting, this whole series they're telling me as it comes out is going to be like gems. So Ruby is the one that we have as an AAS winner. It's called Black Forest because of the very, very, very dark foliage. And then Ruby, it has Ruby colored flowers. And this one does grow from seed and these colors! I did grow this one last year and just time and time again I kept taking pictures of it and put no filter because the flower color was so intense and it was very easy to grow. It gets maybe two feet tall about the same width, not quite as wide so it's a little bit taller  than wide but that contrast between the red flowers and the black foliage is just amazing.

Farmer Fred:

 And it is a summer bloomer. It'll last all the way to frost.

Diane Blazek:

 Exactly.

Farmer Fred:

 All right. So that again is the Dahlia Black Forest Ruby. Now you have a Celosia. And I don't know how you can describe Celosias for people who don't know what Celosia is. I like to think of it as a field of flames.

Diane Blazek:

That's a good way to describe it, especially with the name of this one, “Flama Pink”, because it does look like pink flames. We had an orange, its sister, one about a year or two ago, and it was called Flama Orange. This one's Flama Pink. Now, there are three different types of celosia. So the one you're talking about, the flames, is actually called a plumosa. So think of flames or plumes, and that's a good way to describe it. And one of the things about the Celosia series is how well they hold these vibrant colors. You know, you don't want to put a Celosia out there and then it just turns gray or tan or, you know, weak looking. So this one has a very vigorous, vibrant color head to it.

Farmer Fred:

 Now, you mentioned that you have trial gardens throughout the country. You also have demonstration gardens throughout the country. So if people are wondering, well, I wonder what these plants look like after seeing them on the website. Well, it so happens that the Sacramento County Master Gardeners at their horticulture center, the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, in their vegetable section, they feature a lot of AAS winners that you can go out and see what they look like in person. So I would pay them a visit. And also, if your county does have a Master Gardener organization, they just might have their own demo garden. And maybe some of those might have some AAS winners in it as well. How many demonstration gardens are there across the country?

Diane Blazek:

 Oh, there's quite a few. Now, we have our display gardens, and a lot of them are demonstration gardens with extensions, but we're always looking for more. So if anybody's listening who has a demonstration garden and would like to learn more, you just go to our website, and under the display garden tab, there's information about how to become an AAS display garden.

Farmer Fred:

Exactly. And, you know, it's a great way to attract not only pollinators, but people, gardeners. The two Ps.  Diane Blazek, she's the executive director of All America Selections. Again, their website, all-americaselections.org. I should warn you, there is a dash between the word All and America Selections. Do you have an easier website?

Diane Blazek:

 Yes. The easier one is aaswinners.com.

Farmer Fred:

I like that one, aaswinners.com. We'll have links to it in today's show notes as well. The 2025 winners for the All-America Selections. Check them out. Diane Blazek, thanks so much for your time and telling us about the 2025 winners.

Diane Blazek:

 Well, thanks for having me. It was a delight to be on.

BEYOND THE GARDEN BASICS NEWSLETTER - Valentine’s Day Gifts for Gardeners

Farmer Fred

If you are listening to today’s episode about the 2025 All America Selections Plant Winners on the day it came out, Friday, February 14th…did you forget that today is Valentine’s Day? Oh-oh. Maybe on your way out to find that perfect gift at the last minute, either read or listen to the podcast that is in the current Beyond the Garden Basics Newsletter and Podcast, which is out now. It’s all about the choices available in the way of living gifts - plants - for the gardener in your love life. And if your sweetheart is a hard core-gardener, we make the case for gifting that hard-working special someone with permanent dirt under their fingernails, the perfect gift: soil amendments. After all, nothing says “I love you” more than a bag of worm castings.

Find out more about Valentine’s Gifts for Gardeners in this week’s Beyond the Garden Basics Newsletter and podcast. Find a link to it in today’s show notes, at our website, garden basics dot net, or at Substack. It’s free.

Farmer Fred

Garden Basics with Farmer Fred comes out every Friday and it's brought to you by Dave Wilson Nursery. Garden Basics is available wherever podcasts are handed out. For more information about the podcast, as well as an accurate transcript of the podcast, visit our website, gardenbasics.net. And thank you so much for listening and your support.