I’m really excited about this year’s winners, because many of the selections are improved varieties of annuals that I already like and regularly plant in my own gardens.  The first is a butterfly favorite, Cosmos ‘Cosmic Orange.’ 

In my northern gardens, I’ve found that by the time the taller pink and red varieties of cosmos have stretched to their ultimate height and are finally ready to blossom, I have little time left to enjoy them before the first frost strikes them down!  For that reason I’ve always preferred the shorter orange and yellow, Cosmos sulphureous varieties.  The new ‘Cosmic Orange’ is an even more compact plant growing only 12 to 15 inches tall.  It blooms vigorously with 2-inch double and semi-double, bright orange blossoms the whole summer long. 

Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) is another favorite of mine.  Always covered by butterflies, these  enormous six-foot tall annuals are a beautiful background for other less “imposing” flowers.  The good news is that even those with smaller gardens can now grow this deer-resistant, butterfly magnet.  The new AAS winner Tithonia ‘Fiesta Del Sol’ has lush green foliage and bright-orange 2 to 3 inch daisy-like flowers—and best of all this dwarf variety grows to only two to three feet!  

Everyone loves sunflowers and this year there are two new varieties to try in your garden.  ‘Soraya’ is the AAS selection and sports 4 to 6 inch golden-orange flowers with a chocolate brown center.  It grows 5 to 6 feet high and will produce over 20 cutting stems for indoor bouquets. 

The sunflower ‘Icarus’ isn’t an AAS choice but was chosen as one of the best new selections by the regional testers at “Organic Gardening” magazine.  It too has nice long stems for cutting and a branching habit, and will bloom continuously only 13 weeks from planting.  

The last two flowers on the AAS list are ‘Melody Pink’ dianthus and ‘Stardust Orchid’ vinca (Catharanthus roseus).  ‘Melody Pink’ has long stems topped by sprays of one inch, “fringed” pink flowers which makes it a good choice for the cutting garden.  The one-and-a-half inch blossoms of ‘Stardust Orchid’ vinca have a bright white center star which sets off the unusual orchid-purple colored petals.  It’s compact, bushy, growth habit makes it a good container plant. 

For those of you that have kitchen gardens, two of the four new vegetable offerings should interest you.   

I like to grow colorful peppers in my own kitchen garden, so I was happy to see that there is a new sweet pepper hybrid, ‘Blushing Beauty.’  Very prolific, it produces an abundance of unusual ivory-blush colored, four-inch peppers, which left on the plant will ripen to a deep red. 

The hybrid ‘Savoy Express’ is one of the earliest Savoy cabbages and can be spaced only 12 inches apart in the garden.  This very sweet cabbage bears small 8x6 inch heads with very few wrapper leaves. 

Lastly, for those with large vegetable gardens, there are the new varieties ‘Mr. Big’ Pea and ‘Indian Summer’ Sweet Corn.  ‘Mr. Big’ is an English pea with huge pea pods that are so sweet that they can be eaten right off the vine.  It’s also very disease resistant.