Six New AAS Winners

Jennifer Zurko

All-America Selections (AAS) has an additional six new AAS Winners available for the 2023 garden season. Brokers, growers and retailers have plenty of time to add these proven performers to their assortment to aid consumers who will be asking for them.

All AAS Winners are trialed throughout North America by professional, independent, volunteer judges who grow new, never-before-sold entries next to comparisons that are considered best-in-class. Only those entries that have superior garden performance, better than the comparisons, are granted the AAS award designation.

The newest AAS Winners for 2023 are:

• Coleus Premium Sun Coral Candy (National)—PanAmerican Seed: Coral Candy features unique, multi-colored foliage on a uniformly compact plant. This new plant form has narrow, serrated leaves that gracefully drape down the mounded plants. AAS Judges noted that this variety holds its color well, even when grown in full sun.

• Colocasia Royal Hawaiian Waikiki (National)—Bred by Dr. John Cho, Licensed by PlantHaven: Trialed in the non-seed container trial, this colocasia wowed the judges with its sturdy, large glossy leaves that unfurled with a bold leaf coloration featuring pink veins and creamy white centers. Waikiki is part of the Royal Hawaiian series and produces these striking colors earlier than other variegated leaf colocasia.

• Pepper Jalapeño San Joaquin F1 (National)—Bejo Seeds: This is a determinate jalapeño that sets most of its fruit in a short window so there’s a generous (~50 fruits per plant) number of fruits ready all at the same time. Perfect for canning, pickling and making roasted stuffed jalapeños for a crowd.

• Snapdragon DoubleShot Orange Bicolor F1 (National)—Hem Genetics: Part of a new series of intermediate-height snaps perfect for the garden or as cut flowers. The stunning open-faced double flowers emerge in beautiful warm shades of orange and orange-red that transition to a dusty shade as they age.

• Squash Kabocha Sweet Jade F1 (National)
—Johnny’s Selected Seeds: Sweet Jade proved itself in the AAS Trials with its high yields and good holding capability, which is great news for both home gardeners and growers. Each fruit is between 1 to 2 lbs. and can be used for single servings of squash, as an edible soup bowl or in any number of Asian-style dishes where a sweet, earthy nutritious squash is typically used.

• Tomato Zenzei F1 (Regional—Great Lakes & Heartland)—Bayer/Seminis Seeds: Zenzei is an early-maturing, high-yielding Roma tomato for gardeners in the Midwest. This regional winner produces a great yield of fleshy plum tomatoes that are perfect for canning and freezing. Neat and tidy plants produce fruits that are uniformly shaped and are easy to harvest on unique, bushy, yet indeterminate, plants. GT