All-America Selections announced their 2011 list recently; the nonprofit organization included an ornamental kale for the first time in their 78-year history. Unlike in 2009, when AAS listed only vegetable plants, this year there is a mix of vegetable, edible ornamental and flowering plants; two cherry tomato plants, a pumpkin, perennial Gaillardia, annual Salvia and Viola.
Beginner gardeners, as well as those who want to know that plants they choose have been reliably trialed and tested, can look to lists like the All-America Selections for dependable ideas.
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The AAS winning vegetable plants include a pumpkin and two cherry tomato plants, all producing small fruit at harvest time. These vegetable plants will grow in vertical gardens, small spaces and containers.
The Cucurbita pepo ‘Hijinks’ produces pumpkins for carving and crafts. It retains the classic pumpkin appearance, a round form with smooth, dark orange skin but remains small. Gardeners should expect the vine to grow 15 feet and the plant to have high yields. Cucurbita pepo ‘Hijinks’ is a powdery mildew resistant cultivar.
Like the popular ‘Tumbler’ tomato, Solanum lycopersicum ‘Lizzano’ grows a red cherry-sized fruit. The tomato plant has a trailing habit that is semi-determinate, appropriate for a 20″ diameter container or hanging basket. The tomato plant ‘Lizzano’ is blight resistant.
Solanum lycopersicum ‘Terenzo’ is a determinate plant that grows tomatoes gardeners can harvest after 56 days from transplanting and are so sweet-tasting that they eat the small fruit right off the vine. Solanum lycopersicum ‘Terenzo’ is considered easy for beginning gardeners as the fruit is resistant to cracking.
The cool season plants, Brassica oleracea ‘Glamour Red’ and Viola cornuta ‘Shangri-La Marina’ are considered ornamental plants appropriate for growing in a food garden or among flowers.
The ornamental kale of Brassica oleracea ‘Glamour Red’ develops a 12″ diameter flower head whose leaves have a fringed appearance. Ornamental kale grows better in full sun gardens. Gardeners will wait for nighttime temperatures to fall below 55¬∫F before expecting the leaves to have the strongest colors.
Viola cornuta ‘Shangri-La Marina’ is an early flowering spring plant. This Viola grows to 6″ tall with light blue petals lined with a narrow white edge. The flower’s face is dark velvety blue. Viola cornuta ‘Shangri-La Marina’ is a cool season plant; it tolerates frost and will come back in spring from a fall planting. Violas complement vegetables and other edible plants in a kitchen garden or with spring blooming bulbs along a front entryway.
Salvia coccinea ‘Summer Jewel Red’ is an annual plant that flowers early and is able to continually bloom until fall. Although called a dwarf, this Salvia grows to 20″ tall, developing a strong branching habit and red flower spikes that still attract hummingbirds for the nectar and gold finches for the seed. The leaves have a finer texture of dark green color.
Fitting in container gardens, mixed planting beds or in a walkway edged border; Salvia coccinea ‘Summer Jewel Red’ grows best in full sun and tolerates windy sites and rainy conditions. Salvias and sages are found in a variety of flower and plant forms that will tolerate a wide range of climates, but have primarily upright growing habits.
A perennial Gaillardia ‘Mesa Yellow’ was on the AAS winners list in 2010. Now, another Gaillardia is a flower winner. Gaillardia ‘Arizona Apricot’ has more variegated coloring, starting with yellow edging darkening to apricot at the center. With the apricot coloring it is lighter than a traditional Gaillardia, besides being a more compact plant.
Gaillardia ‘Arizona Apricot’ can be successfully planted in mass, is drought tolerant after rooting in but should still be deadheaded to get the most reblooming.
Every late fall All-America Selections publishes their list of best ornamental bedding and edible plants for gardeners. The national non-profit gardening group trials plants in public gardens across the United States and Canada. Over the years, the plant winners continue to be grown in vegetable and flower gardens because of the high success rate by gardeners.
Garden readers interested in more plant ideas may want to look up the All-America Selections list of 2008.
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