Breeder News

My garden seed catalogs are arriving. I am always happy to find the All-America Selections, or AAS, logo in a plant’s description. I know these plants have been tested in the AAS testing program. It is an independent, nonprofit organization that tests new plants. They have more than 40 test gardens, from Alaska and Canada to California and Florida. They also have over 175 display gardens all across the continent that are used not for judging but for showing gardeners how well the plants grow locally. The judges evaluate the plants all season long, not just an end-of-season harvest. Only the entries with the highest nationwide average score are considered to be worthy of a national AAS Award. Some plants will do better in either a hot, dry climate or a cool, humid one, so the country is divided into six regions where a plant might win one or more regional awards. The flowering plants are evaluated for desirable qualities such as novel flower forms, flower colors, flowers held above the leaves, fragrance, length of flowering season and disease or pest tolerance or resistance. This week, we discuss the flowers; next week, we’ll discuss the vegetables. Apparently red is the color of the year for gardeners. Three of the four AAS winners this year are red. There had never been a coleus AAS winner. The oddly named Main Street Beale Street coleus is a worthy winner. It has red leaves that stay red even when the plant is grown in the full-sun conditions that burn the leaves of a typical coleus. It can be grown in full-shade to full-sun conditions. The nice thing about colorful leaves is that the plant has color all the time, not just when it is in bloom. My favorite thing about this coleus is that it blooms as much as six weeks later than other coleuses! As with all annual plants, coleus plants want to produce flowers and seeds before they die in the fall. The flowers on coleus plants are not too showy, and as they produce flowers, they stop growing colorful leaves. […]

Source: www.creators.com