New AAS Winners for 2025

Chris Beytes

All-America Selections (AAS) has five new AAS Winners available for the 2025 gardening season. AAS Winners are trialed throughout North America by professional, independent, volunteer judges who grow these 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 winners are:

Interspecific Dianthus Capitan Magnifica

Non-Seed Ornamental Winner

National Winner

Bred by Selecta One

Said AAS, “AAS Judges were very impressed with this new dianthus, as it continued blooming and growing even through summer’s heat. One quick shearing after blooming and it bounced back with a profusion of beautiful pink blooms that sport a consistent, light pink edging. New interspecific breeding gives this beauty more heat tolerance than traditional dianthus varieties. And it also has stems long enough to use as cut flowers. Bonus: The more flower stems you cut for indoor enjoyment, the more blooms Capitan puts forth.”

Zinnia Zydeco Fire

AAS Seed Ornamental Winner

National Winner

Bred by Syngenta Flowers

Inspired by the lively, foot-stomping music of Southwest Louisiana, this zinnia bursts with sunshine-bright, fully double flowers that are noticeably larger than the comparisons. Picture a kaleidoscope of fiery orange blooms, swaying on sturdy stems all summer long, right up until the first frost. Judges across North America couldn’t resist its infectious charm—Zydeco boasts not only incredible flower power, but also long-lasting blooms on disease-resistant foliage because of its Z. marylandica heritage.

AAS Ornamental from Seed Winner

Regional Series Winner: Heartland, Northeast, Mtn/Southwest

Bred by Takii EU

Three new colors in the popular Baby series of nasturtiums—and all of them AAS Regional Winners! If you love Baby Rose, then Baby Gold (pictured) is a must-add. The Baby series is known for being a petite-flowered, mounding variety with healthy, dark foliage ideal for containers and small-space gardens. AAS expert judges praised the uniformly compact plants that produced intense gold-colored flowers that didn’t fade. Their compact habit means less flower flopping, with their blooms remaining upright throughout the season.

Each of the newest AAS Winners will soon be featured in custom videos on their individual AAS Winner webpage and on the AAS YouTube channel. All AAS Winners are marketed through social media, public relations and trade shows, and are proudly grown in AAS Display and Introduction Gardens across North America. In addition, the AAS office creates and maintains a wide variety of marketing pieces and resources for anyone in the industry to use, including a wholesale source list, PowerPoint presentations, bench cards and variety markers, all of which you can access at youtube.com/@all-americaselectionsflowe6095. GT