Sigh. I've been doing so well with my twelve step program, even in light of Carol's taunts with the seed swap. However, you and Jay are testing the limits of my will power with recent posts about new seed offerings. At least you didn't provide a link, and I had to do that much work myself.

For everyone else, here's the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Collection at Jung Seed

Seedmama,

I thought if I didn't link it, I could not be accused of enabling anyone to start buying more seeds before the seed swap seeds arrive.

Between the two of us, you and I make a pretty good team of enablers.

I don't see anybody twisting anyone's arms and making them buy seeds. Do you? (smile)

And, yes, I immediately ordered the collection as soon as I saw it.

Dawn

I believe Totally Tomatoes is offering a few also. I remember seeing at least one tomatoe offered as a 2011 AAS Winner. I can't verify that because after a $50 order to them alone, I've grounded myself from viewing any seed catalogs until after I receive my package from Carol.

Paula

I don't know much about AAS Winners, i just read about it. Do you think AAS Winners are THE BEST for every location?

I dunno, Dawn, my arm hurts pretty bad!

Susan

RATZ!! I KNEW better than to click in this thread! Now I want aster seeds.

"Hello, my name is Ezzirah and I am an addict....."

Chandra,

The All-American Selections program dates back to the 1930s. Varieties are grown and evaluated in a series of test gardens across the USA and Canada. One of those test gardens is in Oklahoma. The purpose of the program is to promote new garden seed varieties (flower, herb and vegetable) that have been tested and found to grow well in many parts of the country.

The AAS program has given us a lot of great varieties over the decades including the varieties listed below that still are grown today:

1935 Giant Southern Curled Mustard, Cucumber "Straight Eight"

1943 Tomato "Jubilee"

1950 Snap Bean "Topcrop"

1969 Broccoli "Green Comet"

1970 Squash "Waltham Butternut"

1979 Pea "Sugar Snap"

1989 Tomato "Celebrity"

1994 Tomato "Big Beef"

1995 Petunia "Wave"

2001 Sweet Corn "Honey Select"

2001 Pepper "Giant Marconi"

2006 Ornamental Pepper "Black Pearl"

The AAS program also has given us a lot of varieties that were quite popular and widely grown but which have since fallen from favor.

No, I don't think they are "The Best" for every location, but rather that in the trials and evaluation process they were found to have good traits including wide adaptability. The fact that a variety has wide adaptability means that it will grow very well in most parts of the country , but that doesn't mean the variety is the best. It depends on your judging criteria.

Most AAS winners do not stick around for the long haul. You might see them available for 3 or 4 years or 8 or 10. I think I read somewhere years ago that the typical AAS variety is only widely available for about 3 years. Only the very best ones build such a large following that they endure for many years and even many decades.

The appeal of the AAS winners is that they have been trialed extensively so they have the best chance of performing well in any given area. I like to try the AAS winners most years just for the fun of experimenting with something new.

Sometimes a new AAS winner really surprises me....Profusion Zinnia was one that surprised me by its incredible beauty, vigor and ability to grow and bloom in our worst drought conditions here.

There also are disappointments, including tomato "Husky Gold", which sounded great when they promoted it but when grown in the real world never caught on very well because it had incredibly tough skin. The Husky Gold plants (and this is true of the entire Husky series) are very beautiful, are vigorous growers and are very disease tolerant. However, I don't grow tomato varieties based on their beauty or disease tolerance, but rather for the tomato's flavor and texture, and in that area it was only so-so.

I think that the type of person who like to try new things is the type AAS varieties are aimed at. For those persons who like to grow the same tried and true varieties year in and year out, the AAS varieties might have less appeal.

Sometimes I don't grow the AAS varieties their first year, but instead wait a couple of years to see what real people think of them and their performance in their gardens.

It just happens that this year's AAS winners group has two tomato varieties (VERY rare to have two tomatoes in one year), a watermelon variety and a salvia variety that I think sound interesting.

Dawn

Here's an article on the 2011 AAS winners from the Times-Picayune. It also has pics of the selections.

Maybe the Lizanno tomato, which is listed as a trailing type good for hanging baskets, should be evaluated by the Tomato Queen for its "better eating quality".

Here is a link that might be useful: 2011 AAS Winners

Missed the Terenzo tomato which is another cherry/hanging basket type. It's described as "extra sweet" so does that mean it should taste really, really good or does that mean a lower acid tomato taste = mild tomato = blech (to borrow a term from Owiebrain).

don't forget Clemson spinless okra 1939

trying real hard not to click on that link.....but i don't think i'm gonna be able to resist...and now i'm trying to figure out where i'm going to put more planting beds!

Lynn,

Of course I'm going to evaluate them for "eating quality". I am hopeful they'll taste better than some of the dwarf and basket varieties I grow in containers. I'll keep y'all posted on the flavors, and I'll probably bring the extra plants to the swap to share.

Gary,

There are so many good "old" varieties that were AAS winners that I didn't even try to list them all, and "Clemson Spineless" is one of them.

It seems to me that in recent years, many of the AAS veggie varieties have lacked the staying power of some of the older AAS veggie winners from the 1930s thru the 1980s. I almost think they overbreed them now in an effort to get vigor, wide adaptability and disease-resistance, and the good flavor qualities get lost in the shuffle. Look how long Celebrity and Big Beef have maintained their popularity. You can't say the same is true for many of the AAS tomato winners since then, though.

Dody,

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I apologize for any extra work this is going to cause anyone. Truly I do. You might as well get used to it though, because no one on this forum is going to "ignore" newly introduced varieties and say "Oh, don't even think about this one. We all have enough already." That is NEVER going to happen here. People who truly love gardening always want to try new varieties that sound intriguing because we never know if "this one" will be the one with the performance and flavor we've been looking for.

Dawn

Thank you Dawn, I am glad to know more about AAS, very interesting information. I am thinking to order some of them...

no worries, dawn. :) as has been stated before, there are much worse things to be addicted to! i'm thinking i might have enough new varieties right now to deal with this year...6 new tomatoes, 3 new peppers, 1 new eggplant...and that's just what i've ordered, who knows what will come in the seed swap!

hurry. up. spring.

dody

Carol knows!