I usually try at least one or two of the All-American Selections. An AAS designation means that these plants have been tested by growers at various independent sites around the United States, which pretty much guarantees that they will perform in my own garden.

            This year I am hoping to find the new AAS winner, Eustoma ‘Forever Blue” available in the nurseries.  I’m very fond of purplish-blue flowers and I think this new variety should make an outstanding edging plant. ‘Forever Blue’ has been bred to have a more branching habit than other lisianthus and forms a dense 12x10 inch mound that stays covered with single 2-1/2 inch blue flowers all summer long.  I have seen it paired in the garden with another AAS winner  ‘Avalon Bright Pink’ nicotiana and the results were outstanding. 

‘Avalon Bright Pink’ is an improved dwarf nicotiana that will reach a mature height of only 10 to 12 inches. The color is an unusual shade of bright pastel pink that combines well with not only the “Forever Blue’ lisianthus, but other purple flowers such as the annual salvia “ Victoria Blue”.  Unlike Eustoma ‘Forever Blue,’ this new nicotiana is extremely easy to grow from seeds, so you may want to start your own crop of seedlings indoors.

For those of you that have had good luck growing ‘Profusion Cherry or Orange’ zinnias, there is a new color this year to add to your collection. The new AAS Gold Medal winner, ‘Profusion White,’ is very resistant to powdery mildew and needs no pinching or pruning to keep it blooming all season long.  It will spread 12-24 inches in a full-sun garden and the creamy white color of the 2-inch daisy-like flowers combine nicely with almost any color scheme. 

If you have a hard time remembering to water your deck or patio plantings, you may want to try the new portulaca (moss ross), 'Margarita Rosita.' The 1½-inch semi-double rose-pink blossoms look as if they are made of delicate tissue paper--but don’t be deceived by their fragile appearance. This is actually a very durable plant.  It is extremely heat tolerant and the thick fleshy leaves retain moisture making it the perfect plant for terra cotta containers and strawberry pots. .  

The last flower to be chosen as an AAS winner is the new sunflower, ‘Ring of Fire.’ Normally, a new sunflower would be great news; however, the length of time given from sowing the seed to flowering is 120 days. That doesn’t give the northern gardener much bloom time before the first frost, so I think I’ll have to pass on this one. 

If you are a rose aficionado, I’m sure you already grow a least one All-America Rose Selection . Every AARS winning rose completes an extensive two-year trial program in public gardens all across the U.S. and some of the past winners were ‘Peace’ (1946), Mr. Lincoln (1965), Tropicana (1963) and Bonica (1987).  

This year’s award winners are: ‘Marmalade Skies’, a new floribunda with brilliant tangerine-orange clusters of 5 to 9 flowers on a compact 3-foot high by 3-foot wide plant. ‘Sun Sprinkles’, a miniature rose only 18-24 inches high. Highly disease resistant, it produces fragrant, bright yellow 2-inch wide blooms early in the season.  The last winner ‘Glowing Peace’, is a relative of the famous ‘Peace’ rose. This round, bushy grandiflora is disease resistant and features 3-inch golden yellow blossoms edged with a bright cantaloupe orange. See them all at the AARS website.

If spring ever comes, you will also be able to see these new roses growing in the official AARS display gardens at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chanhassen and the Lyndale Park Municipal Rose Garden, at 4125 East Lake Harriet Parkway, in Minneapolis. For those of you not in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area there is a list of display gardens for each state at http://www.rose.org/Page2/statelst.html.