Released Feb. 14, 2008
MANHATTAN, Kan. - All-America Selections started testing flower and vegetable varieties in 1932, recruiting independent judges to grow and evaluate plants across the United States. So, it´s had 75 years of winners to choose among for an All-America Classics list to celebrate its Diamond Anniversary.
"Plants´ earning a place as one of the five all-time classics - so far, at least - means these winners´ improved traits have really stood the test of time. They´re still clearly superior varieties," said Ward Upham, horticulturist with Kansas State University Research and Extension.
The AAS´s classics include one vegetable plant and four annual flowers:
- Big Beef - a near-foolproof beefsteak-type tomato variety with big, tasty fruit. Multiple-disease resistance was unknown before its introduction in 1994. Big Beef´s hybrid vigor makes it easy to grow.
- Ideal Violet - the variety that in 1992 extended the dianthus growing season with 1.5-inch violet, single blooms. Ideal Violet is a continuous-flowering dianthus that´s extra cold and heat tolerant, plus needs minimum care. It was the first dianthus to receive the AAS Bedding Plant Award.
- Majestic Giants Mix - the small-plant, big-flower variety that in 1966 sold pansy breeders on the idea of developing hybrids. It didn´t require cool weather to sprout, making pansies a fall or spring annual. It brought adaptability, vivid flower colors, free blooming and unusually long life.
- Ultra Crimson Star Petunia - the first AAS Bedding Plant Award winner of any kind, named in 1988 after trials in both greenhouses and gardens. Even in less than ideal soil, the plant freely produces 3- to 4-inch crimson, grandiflora petunias with a consistent star pattern. Yet, pinching isn´t necessary.
- Wave Purple - A genuinely new petunia that impacted the entire annual flower industry in 1992 and brought its breeder a rare AAS Breeders´ Cup Trophy. Wave Purple revived buyer interest in annuals because it acts like a self-rooting ground cover. It´s also is easy to grow, free-flowering and disease-free.
As former AAS winners, the classics also have proven ability to perform well nationwide, Upham added. That´s important in states such as Kansas, which experience all kinds of weather extremes.
Photos of the Classics are available on the Web at http://www.all-americaselections.org/classics.asp.
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http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/
Contacts: Mary Lou Peter-Blecha, mlpeter@ksu.edu
