GB 169 TRANSCRIPT More Award Winning Plants for Your 2022 Garden
Farmer Fred 0:00
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Farmer Fred 0:32
Hey, keep your seed catalogs open! Today, we pick up where we left off on the last episode of Garden Basics. That was Episode 168, where we were talking with Master Gardener Gail Pothour at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center about the All America Selections vegetable varieties that did well over the years here in Northern California. Many of those varieties received national recognition, as well. Today, we have more award-winning vegetables for you to try in your 2022 spring and summer vegetable garden. This time, though, we are talking with the Executive Director of the All America Selections organization, Diane Blazek. She has recommendations for more national as well as regional award winning All America Selections vegetable and ornamental plant winners, including new, exciting peppers, tomatoes, zinnias, begonias, and a lot more, here in Episode 169. We’re podcasting from Barking Dog Studios here in the beautiful Abutilon Jungle in Suburban Purgatory, it’s the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you today by Smart Pots. And we will do it all in under 30 minutes. Let’s go!
Farmer Fred 1:42
If you were listening recently to the Garden Basics podcast, you know we talked about award winning vegetable varieties back on episode 168. It's at a display garden at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center and the awards come from the All-America selections organization, the AAS. It's the only national nonprofit plant trialing organization in North America. And it has quite a history. Among the many vegetables we talked about on Episode 168, including some winners that basically are older than me, which is hard to believe, but it's true. Diane Blazek is with us. Diane Blazek is the Executive Director of the National Garden Bureau's All-America selections organization, and the oldie but goodie I'm referring to is actually an okra variety, Clemson Seedless, which was back in 1939.
Diane Blazek 2:36
Yeah, it was quite a while ago, that was in some of our early days.
Farmer Fred 2:40
Tell us a little bit about how the All-America Selections work.
Diane Blazek 2:44
It's really cool. It gets me super excited when I start talking about it, because the way that our organization was set up in the 1930s, when we were founded, actually 1932. So we're celebrating our 90th anniversary this year. But the way that it was set up then is exactly the same way we're doing things today, and it's that breeding companies from around the world submit their new, never before sold varieties to our organization. We send them out to our trial grounds. Right now we have about 85 trial grounds throughout North America. Our judges analyze, grow, compare these entries to currently on the market varieties that might be similar. And then they rank them. They give them a score. And their criteria is: does it deserve to be a US winner? does it deserve to be a gold medal winner? But basically, it's an anonymous trial. It's all about garden performance. And our judges are the ones who say whether or not that entry deserves an award.
Farmer Fred 3:46
Back in episode 168, we were recording the episode out at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, which is a an AAS display garden. So talk about the difference between a display garden of the AAS and a trial garden.
Diane Blazek 4:01
It's kind of like step one and step two in the process. So the trial grounds is step one. They're the ones that are doing the evaluations like I described. And then once a variety becomes an AAS winner, we supply our display gardens with those winners and it might be a seed form, or it might be as actual plants and we have more than 200 display gardens throughout North America, pretty much in the US and Canada. But those display gardens are such a vital part of our whole promotion effort. The display gardens are the ones that are open to the public, whereas the trials are not. But the display gardens are open to the public. They invite people in, they mark all the varieties that are as winners with a variety name and they put our logo on it. And our display gardens are wonderful. I mean from your experience, you know, they talk about our program and they promote our varieties. They grow them. They can help the home gardeners say, hey, this works really well in this area. This one tastes great. This is a new version. So yeah, those display gardens are like our best friends in the universe.
Farmer Fred 5:11
Now we are rather USDA zone nine centric, obviously here in California. So we spend a lot of time talking about what works here in Northern California. But the regional winners of AAS can give a clue, especially to gardeners listening in other zones, about what may do well for them as well, because I would think that besides national winners, you have plenty more regional winners as well.
Diane Blazek 5:34
You are so right. And this was I call this my V-8 moment, you know, when you slap your forehead and you're like, Oh, why didn't we think of this? About five or 10 years ago, we were looking at the score sheets from some of our entries. And most often it does apply to the vegetable edible winners, but think, too, about cuisines across the United States. You know, there's a reason why okra is considered a southern delicacy, because they grow better in certain areas, you know, you can't fool Mother Nature, you can't change how Mother Nature decides where things are going to grow. So for example, if we had something that was entered, and we looked at the scores, and it didn't get a high enough score in every single region across the United States and Canada, then we start breaking it out by region. And we would go wow, look at this, you know, this performed well, here and here. So let's name that one a regional winner.
Farmer Fred 6:37
Give us some examples of some regional winners in 2022 from elsewhere in the country that people might be wanting to try in their summer vegetable garden this year.
Diane Blazek 6:48
So yes, one is a tomato, Sunset Torch. It's a small grape type tomato and it's yellow with some beautiful orange striping. There's another one, the Pot-A-Peno pepper, it's adorable. It's a jalapeno pepper that grows great in containers. So for all of like, especially all those new gardeners that we have out there, and maybe they're wanting to grow in containers, or maybe somebody like me has a yard and then we're downsizing we only have a patio, something like that, would be really good for a smaller container gardening person. And then there's other things, you know, like on the ornamental side, there's just certain things. Perhaps grow better in a warmer, drier climate or a cooler climate, maybe something like a nasturtium or a delphinium. So those also are some of our regional winners.
Farmer Fred 7:40
How about for some of the colder climates in the United States? Perhaps zones five and below? What are some of the recent winners that stand out with you as far as being very popular in those areas?
Diane Blazek 7:54
Let me clarify a little bit that we don't trial by zone. But some of our regions are rather zone specific. If that makes sense. That's kind of how we had to break them out. For example, there's a tomato, Buffalo Sun, which is a huge beefsteak tomato, and it's kind of a bicolor. The name kind of describes it pretty well, Buffalo Sun. But it did really well in the Northeast because it was bred to have shorter time to maturity. So there was that. Same way with the melon, Orange Silver Wave. So this is a new melon that again is quicker to mature so in the north and in the cooler zones like where I am, I'm in Chicago, we don't have as long of a growing season. So we need some of those things that are quicker.
Farmer Fred 8:41
Some of the 2022 winners that we talked about back on episode 168 that I know I'm excited to try include the Dragonfly sweet pepper, and you mentioned the Pot-A-Peno pepper. I'd be kind of curious to see how that one does here, as well. The Purples Zebra tomato, the sunset torch, as you mentioned, and some of the other vegetable winners from 2022 that are in the horizon like that. Icicle eggplant, that sure is an interesting looking eggplant. It really does look like an icicle.
Diane Blazek 9:15
it really does. Yeah, the white skin, eggplant. It is one of our national winners. That means it's going to, no matter where your listeners are, it would grow for them. But yeah, very long, slender white egg plants a little bit of a thinner skin, definitely fewer seeds. So more of that delicious flesh and because the skin is a little bit thinner it's not going to have any kind of bitter taste or anything with a white eggplant.
Farmer Fred 9:49
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Farmer Fred 11:46
There are a lot of great ornamentals flowers, especially, that attract pollinators and beneficial insects. What are some of the new ornamental plant winners for 2022?
Diane Blazek 11:56
Oh goodness, let's talk about some of our Gold Medal winners. So we have Zinnia Red and Yellow Bicolor. It's part of the Profusion series. And this one is amazing. What I love about it, when you plant it, you have a typical Profusion Zinnia. It's yellow on the outside, red in the middle, and then as it progresses and the season goes on, it also starts to morph to different shades like rose and salmon color. So it's like you're getting multiple plants all in one, which is just wonderful. Then we have another one called Begonia Viking Explorer, rose on green. So the Viking begonias are a new series of begonias, this one, I just love that they called it "Explorer". It means that it's trailing. So it will spread out, kind of hanging over the basket or container, very deep rose colored flowers on the foliage, which is a green foliage. And then our third gold medal, and I'm going to circle back and tell you a little bit more about gold medal winners is a Petunia, Bee's Knees. This is a very vibrant yellow Petunia that will not fade. So it's a vegetative variety. You won't find it from seed. But what is so special about this one is the number of flowers and how they keep their color, that nice, vibrant yellow color.
Farmer Fred 13:24
Alright, circle back. Tell us about the Gold Medal winners.
Diane Blazek 13:26
Okay, I will. So we had a Gold Medal drought, we went 17 years without having a Gold Medal winner. And what that means is that they're a breeding breakthrough. There's something about that plant, not only does it have awesome garden performance, but it's just new to market, something we have not seen anything like this before. So with that Zinnia, the Profusion red and yellow bicolor, it was this morphing color change that had just not really been identified and marketed before and our judges went crazy over it. With this Petunia, Bee's Knees, we have some yellow petunias out there, but they're not this vibrant, and they tend to fade. So that's why Bee's Knees won. And then with that Viking begonia, Viking Explorer Begonia, it is the number of flowers, the fact that it was trailing, and it was just like this beast, itis just amazing in the garden, it just really outperformed the competitors. So it's like a cut above, it's the best of the best. You've got the AAS winners, the national winners, which are fantastic. But then these are a cut above, when they earned the Gold Medal Award.
Farmer Fred 14:41
If I know my audience I know they want to know more about tomatoes. Now I imagine that there have been plenty of National AAS tomato winners over the years. Which are the ones that have gotten the most positive feedback?
Diane Blazek 14:54
Oh, that's a good question. It's interesting, like you say, you know your listeners; and like all gardeners, they find something and they get hooked on it. They just really want to stick with it. And I think a couple of the most popular past as winners are probably Celebrity and Juliet. Celebrity is just a nice round red slicer tomato. And then Juliet is like a longer, larger, grape tomato, a small plum tomato. But I tell you, go right ahead. Those are still on the market. They're wonderful. But sometimes there's something new that comes out, that's even better. So if anybody were to go to our website AASwinners.com, and look at some of the tomatoes, what you can do is go to the individual page, and you can see what else it was trialed against. So when you look at the page under winner details, it says "close market comparisons". So it may be hard to give up something that you've loved for 10 or 20 years. But sometimes there's some new things on the market that are worth trying.
Farmer Fred 16:05
Well, actually, the answer is just go buy a house with a bigger yard. So you can plant everything. That always works. Now one of my favorites over the years, and I plant this more years than not. It's a former AAS winner. And that's the Big Beef tomato.
Diane Blazek 16:20
Exactly, yeah. So that one is another one of those classics. And every once in a while, we'll find one that does pretty well against it. But I guess what I want to say is, it's wonderful. Keep up with the ones you like, but try something new. And the reason is, maybe there's a disease that's common in your area, and maybe you battle it every year. Well guess what. if a breeder comes out with a newer variety that you don't have to battle that disease, or it has higher yield or who knows, maybe it has better taste. That is some of the things that the breeding companies are working on when they're coming out with all these new varieties.
Farmer Fred 16:59
As a matter of fact, new this year is Big Beef Plus, and I'm going to be trying that one in my own yard because it has more disease resistance.
Diane Blazek 17:09
I'm glad you brought that up. So the Plus series has not been trialed by AAS, but putting on my National Garden Bureau hat, those are featured in some of our new varieties, our new plants for this year. And you are exactly right. There's a Celebrity Plus, there's a Big Beef Plus, there's a Lemon Boy Plus, and I think there's several others. So what that company has done is taken the wonderful things that were in those varieties that we all know and love and have used, but they're bumping them up. And for the most part, what it means is they're adding additional disease resistance to those varieties.
Farmer Fred 17:46
One line of tomatoes that seems to be very popular among AAS, judges, and in fact, last year in my own garden, it did very well. The Chef's Choice series, I grew the Chef's Choice Orange last year was one of my favorites for the year. What is it about Chef's Choice that has made it win multiple AAS awards?
Diane Blazek 18:05
Several things. Number one, the taste. Number two, the disease resistance. And Number three, the yield. And it is unusual. You know, in in the ornamental world, we have all these different series with different colors. And it was just so fun when the series came out. And each year there would be another one. So yeah, we have seven different Chef's Choice tomatoes that are now winners. You mentioned the orange. let me see if I can remember. Well, there's the orange, the red, the pink, the yellow, the green, the black, and a bicolor. So yeah, a lot of different Chef's Choice tomatoes to try.
Farmer Fred 18:42
Yeah, that Chef's Choice Green is actually kind of a bicolor, too. It's got some yellow mixed in with the green. It's very interesting looking.
Diane Blazek 18:49
Yes it is. And what's beautiful is, let's say you grow two or three different varieties. Look at the salad plate you can make with that. With just all these different slices of tomatoes. I mean, is that is that going to WOW your guests or what?
Farmer Fred 19:02
it has been in the past one of the attractions at the Farmer Fred annual tomato tasting get together is having a six foot table, full of 20 or 30 different tomato varieties. it's fun.
Diane Blazek 19:17
I want to attend that. You gotta tell me when that is. That would be fun.
Farmer Fred 19:21
Yeah, it's a safer event than the Farmer Fred pepper tasting party, which can lead to people grabbing for the ice cream because they didn't realize they picked up a hot pepper. I think one of my favorite peppers over the years and it's a pepper I've grown for easily 30 years or so, and it was an AAS winner back in 1981. It's the Gypsy sweet pepper, because it produces every year. It's tasty and you can use it at just about every stage of development because it changes color quite a bit through the course of the growing season and might start off sort of a pale yellow, and eventually by the end of the season if you have any left that you haven't eaten yet, they may be red.
Diane Blazek 20:02
Yeah, that's very true about that. Gypsy that is a nice classic. Another pepper from around the same time frame is Carmen. So it's it's a little bit of a larger pepper, and it's definitely red. Super popular in the southwest. But yeah, both Gypsy and Carmen are like these good old classic as winners.
Farmer Fred 20:23
Alright, one more thing, then we'll let you go. I'm getting more and more questions from people who are dealing with climate change in their garden. They want to be able to grow vegetables that aren't damaged by the heat. They're looking for more heat tolerant vegetables. Is that under the umbrella of AAS criteria in the future?
Diane Blazek 20:41
Well, it's interesting you say that. I always talk about how ornamentals are definitely being grown to be more heat tolerant and drought tolerant. But I also have noticed, especially on peppers, a lot more of the entry forms are saying things like, "increased foliage to shade the plant, so you don't get sunscald" and that kind of thing. Tomatoes and peppers like the heat, and of course. But they can can get overheated in certain areas. So yeah, I think to be honest, the only note I'm seeing about that in the edible side is that they have that additional foliage to prevent sunscald. But it's definitely a trend on the ornamental side.
Farmer Fred 21:26
Many of us here in California, because it's just seems like these heat waves in the summertime of triple digit temperatures go on for a week or more, that we are having more luck growing formerly full sun vegetables, like tomatoes and peppers, where they now get a bit of afternoon shade. And that seems to cut down on any sort of irregularities, if you will, that might happen such as cracking, cat facing, scarring, and things like that.
Diane Blazek 21:53
Yeah, exactly. That's, that's a really good point. Maybe they should get a little afternoon shade or or maybe you can erect some sort of shade structure if they're not right in the shade. But yeah, sometimes a little bit too much heat and sun is not a good thing.
Farmer Fred 22:11
Well, you know, experience is the best teacher. And I tried that in one part of my yard where it is really hot. They are growing in barrels, half barrels, up against a south facing fence with a full western exposure. On a concrete base, too. So it gets very, very hot there. And I tried that shading technique. I put up some large umbrellas in the late afternoon to help shade those plants, thinking, "well, that'll cut down on the cosmetic damage," if you will. Turns out, it also increased the heat that those plants were getting. And then some of them didn't make it through the summer. So yeah, I hope there are more heat tolerant varieties in the future. And that's what you do. You do trials and errors. Right? Right. All right. If people want more information about all America selections winners, where should they go?
Diane Blazek 23:00
Our website. We have two different URLs, both directly link to the website. So hopefully one of these is easy to remember. One is All-AmericaSelections.org. So All then a hyphen, then AmericaSelections.org. And the other one is AASwinners.com.
Farmer Fred 23:23
There's two, and we'll have a link in the show notes, too, about where you can go and find their complete list of winners that go back to the 1930s. Plants that you might be willing to try in your own yard, including annuals, perennials, edibles. It's a great selection, the all America selections winners. It's the only national nonprofit plant trialing organization in North America. Diane Blazek is the Executive Director of the National Garden Bureau's AAS program. Diane, we learned a lot today. Thanks so much.
Diane Blazek 23:52
Well, thank you for having me on. Anytime. I love to talk plants.
Farmer Fred 24:00
Have you taken a look at and a listen to, the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Beyond the Basics newsletter yet? It’s a deeper dive into what was discussed on this week’s two podcasts, along with more great gardening information. It really is, going “Beyond the Basics”. In the current edition of the newsletter, we show you what we’ve been talking this week: pictures and more descriptions of the All America Selections vegetable winners. And in the podcast portion of the newsletter, we talk about award winning plants for containers, as well. And, some interesting pepper varieties. So, if you’ve been scribbling down hurriedly the names of all the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, squash, greens, as well as zinnias and begonias you’ve heard on the last two podcasts, you can quit scribbling, and start reading You can find a link to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, Beyond the Basics, in the podcast show notes; or, at Farmer Fred dot com; or, by going to substack dot com slash garden basics. Think of it as your garden resource that goes beyond the basics. It’s the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter. And it’s free. Please subscribe and share it with your gardening friends and family. The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, Beyond the Basics. And thank you for listening.
Farmer Fred 25:25
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