Maybe this spring you’d like to try a few new seeds for the garden. With the energy building for the new season, we’d like to make smart choices. All-America Selections (AAS) is a non-profit organization that asks horticulture professionals to field test new flower and vegetable seeds throughout the country.
Our region is called the “Heartland Region” at AAS. Field test data comes from sites such as McCrory Gardens in Brookings, SD; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Papillion, NE; Des Moines, IA; and Minneapolis. These AAS field test sites contributed data for the current top performing seeds of our region.
Plants below, photos courtesy of AAS, are among the Heartland winners. These were grown and field tested in 2018for superior garden performance in 2018. Heartland Region results that includes South Dakota have these winners: Penstemon ‘Arabesque Red’ and Nasturtium ‘Baby Rose’ and Tomato ‘Sparky XSL F1’
This is the list of Heartland 2018 superior garden performers:
Nasturtium ‘Baby Rose’
Tomato ‘Sparky XSL F1’
Penstemon ‘Twizzle Purple’
Pepper ‘Sweetie Pie F1’
Petunia ‘Evening Sensation F1’
Squash ‘Honeybaby F1’
Pepper, Ornamental ‘Black Hawk F1’
Pepper ‘Serrano Flaming Jade F1’
Salvia ‘Summer Jewel Lavender’
Basil ‘Persian’
Pepper ‘Hot Sunset F1’
Pepper ‘Sweet Sunset F1’
Cucumber ‘Pick a Bushel F1’
Penstemon ‘Arabesque Red F1’
Radish ‘Rivoli’
Tomato ‘Mountain Merit F1’
The easy way to find more information about these seed and where to obtain them is at the All-America Selections website.
If you’d like to find out a bit more about All-America Selections and the Heartland trials, see this recent article that appeared in the Yankton Press & Dakotan newspaper:
Thanks for spending a few minutes here at Plant Exchange Blog. We aim to feature plants of the region and people who grow them. We’re amazed at the building energy to Spring and are glad to be a part of it. Thank you for “Likes” that you send our way. Hurrah for our loyal “Followers” who don’t miss a post!
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Thank you for the article about the AAS winners. We appreciate the support.