If you are looking for plants that will do more than just fill up your garden space, look no further than to the nine new All-America Selections award winners. Here is a preview of the AAS flower and vegetable varieties selected as award winners for 2001. Checkout a list of suppliers who will sell All-America Selections seeds at the end of this article.

2001 AAS Vegetable Winners:

Onion ‘Super Star’

‘Super Star’ is the first hybrid onion variety to win the All-America Selections Award. In fact, the last onion to win an award was 53 years ago! ‘Super Star’ is in the onion category of fresh sweet bulb forming onions. IUnlike other fresh sweet onions suitable for growing in Alabama’s late winter/early spring growing season (short-day onions such as Vidalia or Granex 33 and the Texas Sweet varieties), ‘Super Star’ is the first day-length neutral, sweet onion on the market. Most onions require short days or long days to form bulbs. This makes ‘Super Star’ the perfect onion for fall gardens and late-winter or early spring planting. Even if you don’t have 100 days to produce the 4 ½" bulbs, ‘Super Star’ is so sweet, it can be eaten raw for salads or lightly grilled anytime after the bulbs begin to size up.

Pepper ‘Giant Marconi’

Giant Marconi’ deserves a place in your garden, right next to the grill! ‘Giant Marconi’ produces large 2-3" wide by 6-8" long green, Italian peppers which can be eaten raw, baked or grilled with a sweet flavor in about 75-80 days. It is a good idea to stake and mulch pepper plants, especially those with large fruit, to avoid fruit rots and drought stress. ‘Giant Marconi’ is resistant to Tobacco Mosaic Virus and Potato Virus Y.

Sweet Corn ‘Honey Select’

‘Honey Select’ is a yellow hybrid TripleSweet variety containing two endosperm types. Each ear contains 75 percent sugary enhanced (se) and 25 percent supersweet (sh2) kernals. The sugary enhanced kernals are tender unlike many supersweet types. Because the (se) types do not need isolation, any gardener can grow ‘Honey Select’ anywhere without concern about other corn plants and pollen. ‘Honey Select’ will be ready for harvest in about 79 days.

Tomato ‘Jolly’

‘Jolly’ is a large cherry type tomato with a peach shaped point at the blossom end. This dark pink, sweet, meaty variety produces clusters of crackless tomatoes that are perfect for salads. ‘Jolly’ is an indeterminate variety that produces tomatoes in 70 to 80 days from sowing seed to harvest (no disease resistance).

Gardeners are always in search for blue flowers to add to their garden. ‘Forever Blue’ is the new blue flower perfect for a full sun garden border. Originally a North American wildflower, Eustoma ‘Forever Blue’ was bred with two superior traits. It has a distinct branching habit, different from other eustoma, and is extremely heat and drought tolerant. If given adequate moisture and fertility, ‘Forever Blue’ will bloom throughout the growing season.

‘Avalon Bright Pink’ is an unusual colored flowering tobacco. The single, star shaped bright pink blooms gets much attention in the garden. This full-sun annual combines well with other annuals, such as Salvia farinacea, blooming continuously into the fall. These bedding plants may be available in garden centers this spring. Plant on 10-12 inch centers.

Portulaca ‘Margarita Rosita’

Portulaca is native to South America. It’s thick, fleshy leaves retain moisture making it a good plant for container gardening. These drought-tolerant plants have low nutritional requirements. ‘Margarita Rosita’ has more of a mounding growth habit with semi-double, deep pink blooms. Gardeners can expect a long season of flowers from this tropical annual.

‘Ring of Fire’ is another ornamental sunflower to add to the garden and landscape. The 5- to 6 inch deep mahogany red ring surrounding the chocolate brown flower center and golden edged petals makes excellent long stemmed cut flowers as well. Plants need full sun and will grow to a height of about 4 feet. A warm, moist soil is all that is needed to germinate the seeds or transplant plants. (90 to120 days from sowing seed to flower)

AAS has selected another Zinnia interspecific ‘Profusion’ cultivar for 2001. ‘Profusion White’, like ‘Profusion Cherry and Orange’ produces a shorter, stockier narrow-leaf zinnia (about 10 to12 inches high) that is covered in 2-inch white blooms with golden centers from spring to late fall. These Gold Medal AAS Winners are resistant to powdery mildew fungus and require very little if any maintenance. Its primary requirements are sun, nutrients and water.