All-America Selections (AAS) has just announced eight new AAS Winners for the upcoming 2026 gardening season. The list includes two Gold Medal Winners (their highest honor, signifying a breeding breakthrough), four National Winners and two Regional Winners. The list is split equally (four and four) between flowers and vegetables … wait, that’s not quite correct: One of them earned Gold in both the flower AND vegetable trials—a first for AAS!

That distinction goes to …

Kale Rubybor F1 (Bred by Bejo Seeds)

Rubybor delivers all-season beauty to your garden and your plate! Its rich, deep purple foliage and uniform, compact habit make it a standout ornamental in any garden or container. Unlike many kales, this selection maintains its excellent color and tidy, bushy shape with shorter internodes, making it ideal for smaller spaces and Southern heat. Best of all, the beautiful leaves are exceptionally tender and non-bitter, providing a continuous harvest of delicious, high-quality greens from spring until frost.

Zinnia Profusion Double White Improved (Bred by Sakata)

The other winner is from the well-known (and highly awarded) Profusion Zinnia family. Zinnia Profusion Double White Improved features impressive large, double flowers (2.5 to 3 in. in diameter) that give the plants a lush, full look. Bred for superior performance, this variety is exceptionally sturdy, disease-resistant and thrives in diverse climates, even enduring high night temperatures. It grows 14-in. tall and 20-in. wide.

The National Winners:
Basil Treviso (GardenGenetics and Seeds by Design)
Coreopsis SunGlobe F1 (Hem Genetics)
Dianthus Supra Cherry Picotee F1 (Hem Genetics)
Sedum Spectacular (PanAmerican Seed)

The Regional Winners:
Pole Bean Majesty (Pure Line Seed)
Winter Squash Butter Lamp F1 (Know-You Seed Co.)

This week, I hopped up to the St. Louis area for a visit to Hoffmann Heimos (formerly N.G. Heimos, until the Naples, Florida, investment firm bought them) for something that hasn’t changed in 18 years: their annual poinsettia trial.

Well, I say it hasn’t changed, but it has—it’s gotten bigger! Like, 72 varieties bigger—up to 222 total cultivars in the trial from seven breeders. Impressive! I believe Amy Morris told me there was something like 12,000 plants in the trial (and another 1.5 million in the greenhouses, but more on that later …).

Amy said the growing season was a bit challenging: Rather than being in the Midwest, Heimos spent a bit of the summer and fall in Texas, at least climate-wise. Hot, in other words. That impacted bract expansion a bit. And they had a light leak in one portion of a house that delayed some plants. But, hey, this is touted as a true grower trial and that’s what growers face, right? In the end, the plants were plenty fine enough to evaluate and photograph … and sell.

Of course, not all 222 were new, and while we love seeing the vintage varieties like Freedom and Polly’s Pink and Winter Rose, we were there for fresh introductions and the breeders didn’t disappoint, both in reds and in novelties. Here’s a sampling from my notes:

Timeless Red (InBlume)

This vigorous 8.5-week red offers an interesting “tulip-shaped” bract, as they put it, with bracts that are held slightly upright. I thought they looked almost like stars. The plants have that modern V-shape every breeder seeks. Foliage is a nice deep green and the cyathia are prominent, but not oversized. Grow it in 6-in. to 10-in. pots.

Stiletto Red (InBlume)

Stiletto is an apt name for this tall, vigorous, upright, V-shaped beauty. They call it a premium variety, suited for bigger pots and even the florist trade.

This is a good time to mention that InBlume (Express Seed’s indoor blooming plant division) is now giving all their poinsettias fashion-oriented names to help distinguish them from other breeders.

Christmas Royale (Selecta)

Boasting a “modern” chassis (V-shape, strong roots, smaller leaves and long-lasting cyathia), Christmas Royale is an 8-week, medium-high vigor red that Selecta says will perform well in any pot size. They're touting it as “a new mid-season standard” in poinsettias. That's James Doukas showing it off.

Golden Yellow (Selecta)

Along with some new hybrid euphorbia-style poinsettias for 2027 (and some experimental whites that I was told are off the record or else), Selecta offered a novelty Golden Yellow to go along with their Lemon Yellow—an 8-week variety suited for those retailers for whom the typical red, white, marble and jingle isn’t enough!

Rapid Red (Dümmen Orange)

The name says it all—it’s early! Very early, in fact, with a 6-week response time. But it’s said to have excellent branching, heat tolerance and it’s suitable for any pot size.

Moni White (Dümmen Orange)

Moni is not quite as bright white as Frozen or Flurry, but it’s said to be more uniform, with a stronger V-shaped habit.

Papagena Marble (Lazzeri)

Talk about a novelty! Papegena (say “papa-hay-nah”) might be a cross between a poinsettia and an Under the Sea Coleus. Look at those crazy bract and leaf shapes, and the two-toned foliage! It had collected more vote flags than any other variety, I believe. Culturally, it’s a medium-vigorous 8-week cultivar.

Nova Cinnamon (Beekenkamp)

This is Beekenkamp’s first cinnamon-patterned poinsettia and it’s a nice one. Early, at 7 weeks, but also vigorous and well branched. It performs like their Astro variety, they say, and is good in most any pot size and climate except for the deep south.

Qismas Crunch Red, Pink (Graff)

If you see a variety name start with Q, it’s from Graff Breeding in Denmark. It’s actually easy to pronounce, though—just say “Christmas” as if you were four years old. Qismas Crunch is proof that the Winter Rose-style poinsettia is still in demand. Crunch is a bit looser in curl than Winter Rose, but more uniform. Two colors, Red and Pink. A similar variety, Snowball, is a bit larger and later, so didn’t fit in with the Crunches.

Princettia Hot Pink Improved (Suntory)

We haven’t seen a new cultivar in the Princettia hybrid euphorbias from Suntory lately, but Hot Pink Improved shows they're working on upgrading the line. The improvement is for overall plant presentation, and when you look at existing (left) and new (right) side by side, you can see the richer color and better bract coverage.

That’s just a taste, a tithe, a sampling of what’s new from the poinsettia breeders. For more, stay tuned for the video Osvaldo and I shot, which should be ready by the next email. Plus, our resident hortistician, Dr. Marvin Miller, gives his annual poinsettia botany lesson. You will NOT want to miss that!

Oh, and Editor Jen Zurko will be visiting the Plantpeddler poinsettia trials the week after Thanksgiving and they're boasting about having 240 cultivars on display! This looks like it could get interesting—who will be the first to 250 … or even 300 … and will they have to bring back Annette Hegg, Supjibi, Peterstar and St. Louis Red to do it?

I’ve been sharing online Shorts and Reels recently because I’m finding more and more of them, especially from the big European growers.

Check out THIS ONE from the Dutch plant marketing group Decorum, shot at one of its member nurseries, Lionplant, which specializes in pot mums, and only disbuds—meaning all the side buds are removed, leaving just one big flower per stem. Talk about labor-intensive—nobody’s come up with a robot to do that job! These are like the classic old fall football mums that nobody grows anymore.

Back in the day (the ’80s), I was a weekly pot mum grower myself, serving the florists of east central Florida with disbuds and daisies 52 weeks a year. While I didn’t particularly like disbudding myself (luckily, we generally had employees to do it), it’s a crop I am still fond of and I was sorry to see fall out of favor to the extent that a pot mum master like Norm White could no longer survive producing the crop.

Whether or not Lionplant is making money on mums in Holland, these sure are pretty! And where else will you see a straight-up one-plant disbud incurve 10.5-cm mum?

This sounds like the perfect introduction or refresher for most anyone in your business!

On Saturday, November 29, HortAmericas has invited their technical service specialist Karla Garcia to teach an online class on greenhouse management. Only it's not the office—it’s the greenhouse environment she'll help you manage. Karla will help you understand all the environmental variables inside a greenhouse, including light, temperature, ventilation and more. As she says, “The more you measure, the more you can control.”

The class is two hours, from 10:00 a.m. to noon Central and costs just $50. Register HERE.

In it, you’ll learn:

- Advantages of greenhouse management
- Energy balance inside of the greenhouse
- Light, shade and supplemental light
- Airflow and its roles in plant growth
- Temperature and its effects in plant metabolism
- CO2
- Nutrients
- Rootzone management

What I want to know is, how's she going to squeeze all that into just two hours?!

I’ve been working on a project: a podcast featuring (hopefully) every one of our 21 Young Grower Award Winners (well, one has already graciously declined, so 20) because we need to embrace and learn from our young talent. Which brings us to Seed Your Future, the industry non-profit created specifically to inspire tomorrow’s plant professionals. They've just announced a new board president, board director and a fresh cohort of committee volunteers. And we love our volunteers!

Stepping into the role of board president in 2026 is Broch Martindale, National Nursery & Greenhouse Strategic Account Manager at Corteva Agriscience. A long-standing member of Seed Your Future’s Advisory Council and a champion of workforce development, Broch will lead the organization through its next chapter of career-awareness programming and industry engagement. He takes over from Dr. Ronda Hamm, who's been board president since 2023.

Mari Carasquillo, Vice President of Marketing at Costa Farms, is the newest member of the board of directors. With deep expertise in consumer marketing and brand storytelling, Mari will support efforts to elevate the visibility of plant-related careers and strengthen the organization’s national outreach. Stepping off the board after completing their terms are Dr. Charlie Hall and Rodd Moesel.

Then we have a slew of new volunteers, including:
- Andrew Gurka, Director of Student Programs, Longwood Gardens
- Jordan Richardson, Member Engagement & Communications Manager, CalFlowers
- Sarita Cantu, Marketing Manager, Smith Gardens
- Lauren Brown, Assistant Head Grower, Smith Gardens
- Sarah Morales, Steward, GreenWeaver Landscapes–Sustainable Landscapes
- Ella Davis, Horticulture & Marketing Communications Graduate, University of Wisconsin–River Falls

These volunteers will help drive Seed Your Future’s programs, industry partnerships and outreach efforts, helping expand career awareness and strengthen pathways for the next generation.

Jazmin Albarran remains the Executive Director of Seed Your Future. Said Jazmin of these folks, “Their collective experience and passion for developing the next generation of plant professionals will help us broaden our reach, deepen our impact and continue addressing the workforce gap facing the horticulture industry.”

Last time, I shared a Facebook question from Benjamin Miller of Stutzman’s in Kansas regarding the impact of social media—specifically videos—on the sale of plants. Here are a couple of replies from your fellow readers:

Judy Mitchell of Mitchell’s Greenhouse in North Carolina said: “Sales for us took off with COVID and are still trending up. We try to post twice daily on Facebook and Instagram, occasionally TicTok. Emails bimonthly with blogs also help. Luckily, we are in a growing market.”

And Ian Baldwin, famous garden center consultant, gave us a new name to check out in the world of garden center social media: “Are you familiar with Brian Bauman of Bauman’s in Oregon? He has used social media videos to great advantage. From a gentle, nervous start after COVID, he has become the face of the company with witty, authentic and well-followed short videos. I can’t give you numbers, but growth has been very, very good since COVID. Brian and Sam get it!”

Taking Ian’s advice, I looked up Bauman’s Farm & Garden on Facebook and found a bunch of videos that were as he described: witty and authentic. Brian may have been nervous at first, but he’s gotten used to the camera. Check out some of his work HERE.

Making videos like I have been showing you is work … and it’s a commitment. Judy said they try to post twice daily! That may be more than you need, but you have to want to do it and enjoy doing it. If you don’t, then give the opportunity to a staffer who’s champing at the bit to make your business the talk of the town.