Although 2012 is just beginning, several national societies have announced their award recipients for this year.
Most of them conduct trials on many plants during the previous growing season. All of the reports are in, data is analyzed, and the decision made just in time for the New Year and the new catalogs.
Here are a few plants to keep your eye out for in 2012:
The All America Selection Winners include two edible vegetables and two ornamentals this year. Ornamental pepper black olive did especially well in the southern US where heat was a major presence in 2011. It has a nice upright habit with nicely draping leaves and dark purple to black fruit. As the summer progresses, the fruit matures to red giving a nice contrast against the dark purple foliage and bright purple flowers.
Teri Lessig
The other ornamental selection is salvia summer jewel pink. This compact, early blooming selection of salvia begins blooming earlier than most other pink salvias and maintained a prolific bloom count through the season. The hummingbirds like this variety as much as they do the red.
The vegetable winners for the All America Selections include pepper cayennetta F1 and watermelon faerie F1. Cayennetta pepper is an excellent tasting mildly spicy chili pepper that is very easy to grow. The prolific fruits are 3 inches to 4 inches on a well-branched plant perfect for in a container or patio planter. This variety exhibited good cold tolerance as well as handling extreme heat. A good choice for home gardeners as well as commercial growers.
The faerie watermelon is a non-traditional watermelon having a creamy yellow rind with thin stripes yet still yields sweet pink-red flesh with a high sugar contend and crisp texture. The vines are slightly more compact than most melon varieties, only spreading to about 11 feet. The early ripening fruit is 7 inches to 8 inches and weighs 4 pounds to 6 pounds and keeps producing throughout the season. Another bonus is the good disease and insect tolerance of this variety.
The Perennial Plant Association selects a Perennial Plant of the Year each year. For 2012, the winner is brunnera macrophylla Jack Frost. This patented variety grows about 18 inches tall and wide and lives in Zone 3 to Zone 8. Brunneras are treasured for their shade tolerance, blue forget-me-not-like flowers, and variegated foliage. This plant will tolerate a small amount of morning sun if there is adequate soil moisture. If grown in sandy areas, be sure it is a location that receives an ample amount of water. Brunneras do wonderful in heavier, more water retentive soils.
There are a lot of other societies, local, national and international, that selects winning plants in different categories. There are also a lot of new introductions every year from all of the different companies. Some of them may sound really good, but be cautious when purchasing. Many of the new introductions are rushed onto the market before adequate trials are run on them.
Newer doesn’t always mean better.
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