All America Selections for 1998

Terry L. Yockey

Here are the descriptions for the 1998 AAS Award Winners:

A petunia named 'Prism Sunshine.'  It's hard to find a yellow petunia with large blossoms-- especially one that won't fade or become leggy as the summer heat comes on. Its flowers have bright yellow centers which blend into the creamy yellow around the edges. A very compact ten to twelve inch plant which performs admirably whether planted in your beds or in containers.

Another AAS winner is impatiens 'Victorian Rose.' This one must be spectacular if it can excel with so many other impatiens varieties and colors! "Victorian Rose' grows about 18 inches high and displays large semidouble blossoms in a bright rose shade. Most double impatiens have fewer blossoms, but this type flowers generously all summer long. Some describe the blooms as similar to half-opened rose buds.

"Rhubarb" Swiss Chard is one of my favorite garden vegetables because of it's beautiful red leaves that look almost like stained glass when the sun shines through them. This year they have chosen a new Swiss Chard named 'Bright Lights' to be on the AAS list. Instead of red leaves this chard has large bright green leaves, but makes up for it with the vivid colors of its stalks. It comes in a variety of colors--pink, yellow, gold, red, orange, purple and even pink and white striped. I've seen Swiss Chard used very effectively as an edging for flower gardens--imagine what an impact this new variety would make! Truly one of the few garden plants where you can literally have your cake and eat it too.

The last plant on the list is a lemon basil, 'Sweet Dani.' This one is bred to have a strong lemon scent. Should be good for using in any dish which calls for lemon flavoring, as a potpourri additive, or even as a filler in your cut flower arrangements.

Other new offerings this year are two new annual butterfly weeds. The advantage to an annual Asclepias is that according to the Park Seed catalog it will bloom all summer long as opposed to the short season of our perennial varieties. The new annuals are named 'Red Butterfly' and Silky Gold' and are definitely on my list of flowers to try in the wild butterfly garden.

There are a lot of geranium lovers out there and many new introductions each year. One that has gotten very favorable reviews is the 'Maverick Light Salmon' geranium. It claims to be a disease and insect-free geranium that blooms non-stop all season. It has a compact growing habit which should make it a good candidate for your container plantings.

These are only a very few of the new plants out this year. Most of the AAS selections should be available at your local nurseries.

Most All America Selection Winners are available at Park Seed