GARDENING : Petunias, Daisy Make the Cut for All-America Team
Two petunias and a gloriosa daisy are the newest All-America Selections. No vegetable was judged worthy this time by AAS, which has been making such awards for 62 years. The petunias, Purple Wave and Celebrity Chiffon Morn, both hybrids, and the easy-care daisy, Rudbeckia Indian Summer, were honored for 1995 after comparisons at 33 display gardens across North America for flowers and 26 for vegetables.
They will be offered by seed sources for the coming season with this AAS endorsement: “Distinct and superior, worthy of being grown by professional growers and home gardeners alike.”
Purple Wave is touted as the first of a new class of petunias because of its horizontal growth habit. It reaches only four to six inches in height but can spread two to four feet. Blooms are single and about two inches in diameter.
The height of Celebrity Chiffon Morn is a more familiar 18 inches.
AAS says Purple Wave will do best in a sunny location and the “plants are vigorous and drought-tolerant, perfectly adaptable to hanging baskets that tend to dry out rapidly.” It also is recommended for rock gardens, sloping hills and terraces because “a flowering carpet aptly describes this new plant.”
Most are likely to be purchased as bedding plants although “experienced gardeners could grow Purple Wave from seed,” AAS says.
Celebrity Chiffon Morn has a single, floribunda form and produces 2 1/2-inch flowers that are described as “a soft, pastel pink color with a delicate topping of cream and white in the center of the bloom.
“Only the flower color can be described as soft or delicate,” adds AAS. “The plant is tough and reliable.”
The judges said the color will blend or contrast well with blue, red or green shades, is visible for quite a distance and is best used to draw attention to a garden feature, such as a birdbath or bench. It, too, is most likely to be found as a bedding plant.
However, even novice gardeners should be able to grow Indian Summer from seed sown directly into soil, AAS says.
The golden yellow flowers are six to nine inches in diameter, among the largest in its class. They come in single or semi-double form. Plants reach three to four feet in height but “due to the basal branching habit, do not need staking in the garden.” They need full sun.
Rudbeckia is native to the eastern United States. Indian Summer is described as relatively free of diseases and pests, free-flowering all summer and requiring little care.
AAS describes itself as a nonprofit educational group formed to evaluate flowers and vegetables from around the world.
In the all-America tests, flowers are scored on the basis of color, prolonged flowering, attractiveness of blossoms, uniformity, uniqueness, fragrance and resistance to disease, insects and weather stress.
There have been 568 previous AAS winners. Lavender Lady flower, Big Beef tomato and Fanfare cucumber won for 1994.
