When January rolls around, it is with great pleasure I bring to you the most recent AAS winners. All America Selections (AAS) is a non-profit trialling organization that tests new, never-before-sold varieties of plants for the home gardener. The AAS Winner label is like a stamp of approval as their mission is to promote new garden varieties with superior garden performance.
Last week we covered the ornamental winners and now we move onto my favourites – the edible plants that also add beauty to your garden. It was a pleasure to see Eggplant Icicle F1 as a winner of the prestigious AAS award. This eggplant has less spines than most of the eggplants so it is definitely more pleasurable to grow and harvest. The fruit is larger than any of the other white eggplants that I have seen and grown and each fruit itself contains fewer seeds. The plants themselves are vigorous and tend to be less susceptible to environmental and insect challenges. The white flesh stays truly white and does not yellow as many others will. It is lovely to enjoy either raw or cooked so a nice addition to your table at any time.
Oakleaf lettuce is one of my favourite lettuces to grow. Lettuce Bauer is the named 2022 AAS winner and it is fast to germinate and grow and at maturity it is a beautiful rosette-shaped full-sized head. As it is a uniform dark green colour and is also uniformly compact it can be grown anywhere. Try is in containers or in your home hydroponic grow operation as it not only is beautiful to see but has sweet, crisp and sturdy leaves. Definitely part of my salad garden.
There were two peppers who made the cut as an AAS Vegetable Winner in 2022. Pepper Buffy F1 is a delicious hot pepper that is not only beautiful in the garden but a tasty and fiery little pepper to consume. A good yield of juicy, thick-walled green to red fruits are produced on strong, healthy and upright plants. As the fruit is slightly larger, they are a great pepper to stuff as well. This is a beautiful and tasty addition to the garden!
Pepper Dragonfly F1 produces beautiful purple peppers that have thick, sweet walls. This pepper starts out as green and transforms into a beautiful fully mature purple pepper. With a long enough season and enough heat units this pepper will transform into a beautiful, bright red colour. Edible at all stages of colour, it has a robust pepper flavour that is beautiful whether green, purple or red. The fruit is four-lobed and does not fade in colour. This is without doubt a great pepper to grow.
Bringing the latest AAS winners to you is a ritual of the new year. All-America Selections is an independent non-profit organization that tests new, never-before-sold varieties for the home gardener and has been in operation since 1932. Each year, after a full season of anonymous trialling by volunteer horticulture professionals, the top garden performers are given the AAS Winner award designation for their superior performance.
Try growing one or try growing them all as it is almost a guarantee of success in the garden. Next week, watch for the final edible winners and let’s get growing.
Hanbidge is the lead horticulturist with Orchid Horticulture. Find us at www.orchidhort.com; by email at info@orchidhort.com; on facebook @orchidhort and on instagram at #orchidhort.
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