Trade Group Selects the Cream of the Crops

Three vegetables, two flowers and one bedding plant are All-American Selection winners for 1997. This is the 62nd year of such awards by AAS, which describes itself as a nonprofit trade group formed to evaluate flowers and vegetables from around the world.

The winners will be on sale for spring gardens with this endorsement: “A gardener can rely on the superior quality.”

Vegetable winners are a cabbage, Dynamo, “bred for the smaller family, with heads weighing 2 to 2.5 pounds”; Cajun Delight, an okra reaching about 4-feet tall and 2-feet wide, and Siam Queen basil, which reaches 2 to 3 feet with a 2-foot spread.

Flower winners are the bedding plant Crystal White, a Zinnia angustifolia blooming from May to frost; Gypsy, the first Gypsophila muralis (baby’s breath) to win AAS honors, and Prestige Scarlet, a Celosia cristata reaching 15 to 20 inches and providing continuous color in full sun.

Crystal White is described as highly tolerant of powdery mildew and other diseases that commonly affect zinnias.

Dynamo, an F1 hybrid, is expected to mature in about 70 days from transplanting and, says AAS, “the heads proved to have good holding qualities with less splitting, a mild flavor and resistance to Fusarium yellows.”

The annual Cajun Delight, also an F1 hybrid, “offers tender immature pods that can be harvested earlier, over a longer time and a much higher yield potential.” It reaches about 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide.

The basil Siam Queen is “an improved tropical basil due to its larger leaves, thicker stems and later flowering. The leaves are highly aromatic. When lightly crushed, the leaves burst with an intense licorice basil aroma.”

It is described as relatively disease- and pest-free with a symmetrical branching habit. Young shoots should be harvested 45 to 50 days after transplanting.

Prestige Scarlet celosia has deep-red blooms about 3 1/2 inches across and grows 15 to 20 inches high. It does best in full sun and is listed as easy to grow from seed.

Gypsy, the gypsophila, also needs full sun and can be grown from seed. It is listed as easy to grow in containers “and will reward the gardener with finely textured foliage and small one-quarter-inch stellar-like pink blooms. The casual plant habit blends perfectly with popular cottage style of gardening.”