All America Selections is the place to go for the next best thing to guaranteed success in your garden. AAS has celebrated more than 75 years of providing those plants to gardeners that are tested nationally and proven locally. Each year AAS chooses a number of plants that are tested by a network of independent judges who determine which plants exhibit superior garden performance. For us as gardeners, this is a great bit of advice to help us in achieving success in our gardens.
If you are looking for success in your garden this year you may want to try one or two of the winners. It is sometimes difficult to get the seed desired when the winners are just announced, but if you go to the AAS website they list the seed houses that sell seed of the winning plants. The url is http://all-americaselections.org/buy_winners/index.cfm.
Geranium Brocade Cherry Night is one of the national 2016 AAS flower award winners. The geranium has striking foliage with bronze leaves with a unique green margin. The foliage alone makes this a lovely plant for containers in your garden. In addition the bright semi-double bright cherry blooms and easy care makes this a winner for any space in full sun to partial shade. The only drawback that I see is that, like all geraniums, it is necessary to remove the spent blooms.
My personal favourite flower winner this year is Geranium Brocade Fire. It has unique bi-colour foliage with a nonstop display of semi-double orange blooms. I know this summer I will be displaying this geranium, as it is truly exceptional with the contrast between the orange flowers and the striking foliage. Like all geraniums it is important to maintain even moisture until the roots are established, but then they get along quite well with low to medium moisture. It helps to give an occasional feed of a low concentration balanced fertilizer. When transplanting, ensure you water thoroughly.
Salvia Summer Jewel Lavender is a regional flower award winner. This unique coloured flower has a soft dusty lavender purple colouration. It is a delight for us, but is also a good pollinator attracting bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. As an added bonus, the goldfinch are fond of the flower seeds in the autumn. Hours could be spent trying to capture the beautiful gold of the goldfinch against that lovely lavender colour. This selection will bloom early and continuously until fall and also displays compact, uniform growth.
As our winter becomes truly winter-like and the temperatures fall, there is opportunity for gardeners to cruise around the website and enjoy looking at the winners of the past. You will be amazed at the number of plants selected and truly would be an endless pursuit of finding more successful plants to grow in your garden. AAS truly does follow their Mission Statement: "To promote new garden seed varieties with superior garden performance judged in impartial trials in North America."
From all of us at the Saskatoon School of Horticulture we wish you a safe, happy, healthy and productive 2016.
— Hanbidge is a horticulturist with the Saskatoon School of Horticulture and can be reached at 306-931-GROW(4769); by email at growyourfuture@gmail.com or check out our website at saskhort.com.
