All America Selections is a non-profit trailing organization for plants that demonstrate great performance in the garden throughout North America. When you purchase an AAS Winner, you know that it has been put through its paces by an independent, neutral organization and has been judged by experts in their field. The AAS Winner label is like a stamp of approval. And by requirement, all AAS Winners are bred or produced without using genetic engineering.
AAS is therefore the place to go for the next best thing to guaranteed success in your garden. Varieties that perform best over all of North America become AAS National Winners. Entries that performed particularly well in certain regions are named AAS Regional Winners. The AAS Winners offer gardeners reliable new varieties that have proven their superior garden performance in trial grounds across North America, thus, our tagline of “Tested Nationally and Proven Locally.” For gardeners, this is a great bit of advice to help us in achieving success in our gardens.
There were a total of 16 AAS winners for 2017. These winners will be available for purchase for the 2017 gardening season as supply becomes available. The winners will be covered in detail over the next couple of weeks of articles, so 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 All America Selections website they list the seed houses that sell seed of the winning plants. The url is http://all-americaselections.org/buy-winners/.
Pepper Mad Hatter F1 was chosen as one of the national vegetable winners. It is an exotic pepper with good vigor, high yields and a delectable flavour. It is a member of the Capsicum baccatum pepper series from South America that are commonly used in Peruvian cuisine. The unique shape alone should impress you and all your gardening friends. The flavour is refreshing but with hints of citrus and floral with a tiny bit of heat near the seeds. Try this pepper in salads, pickled or stuffed with cheese.
Tomato Patio Choice Yellow F1 is a compact determinate tomato that was specifically chosen for small spaces in container gardens. This bright yellow cherry tomato will set more than 100 fruit on a single plant. Choose to eat this tomato fresh or sun dried for enjoyment throughout the year.
A regional choice, but one that would do well here when we get our "normal" hot summer, is Tomato Chef’s Choice Yellow F1. It is the fourth addition to the Chef's Choice tomato series. If you recall in 2014 one of the national winners was Chef's Choice Orange F1. This new winner produces a hearty beefsteak tomato in a beautiful yellow colour with a citrus-like flavour. Also a good producer with more than 30 fruit ripe for the picking throughout the growing season.
Watch next week for more sure fire AAS Winners to grow this year in your garden!
— 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 www.saskhort.com.
