2001 All American Selections
Susan Mahr, University of Wisconsin - Madison

As you're looking through those numerous seed catalog that offer hundreds of types of annual flowers and vegetables and many new selections each year, look for the red, white and blue logo of All-America Selections on the seed packet, plant tag or in catalogs. Success is almost guaranteed with these varieties of reliable new flower and vegetable varieties.

The non-profit All-America Selections (AAS) organization was founded in 1932 to foster the development, production and distribution of new and better horticultural and agricultural varieties, species, strains and kinds in and for North America. AAS winners are superior new annual flower and vegetable plants recognized for significant achievements – a promise of gardening success. Only the very best varieties receive this prestigiousaward. All AAS winners have been tested for home garden performance in more than 30 independent test sites, each under the responsibility of an AAS judge, all over the United States and Canada. Gardeners can rely on AAS Winners to perform in their garden because of these unbiased, independent tests. Most of the time only one to three flower varieties and the same number of vegetables get this award each year, and sometimes none qualifies.

The following 4 vegetables are the AAS winners for 2001:

'Honey Select' Sweet Corn has proven its delicious sweet honey flavor and tender eating quality in trials across North America. The only reason to grow your own sweet corn is flavor and 'Honey Select' has flavor and ease of growing. A TripleSweet™ variety, 'Honey Select' ears are 75% sugary enhanced (se) and 25% supersweet (sh2) kernels. Unlike other supersweet types, 'Honey Select' does not require isolation from other corn pollen. Maturing in about 79 days, gardeners will find yellow 'Honey Select' ears about 8 inches long. Mature ears can be harvested over a longer time without loss of eating quality.

'Jolly' Tomato is a delicious, new pink variety. The vigorous indeterminate vines produce abundant clusters of 1½ ounce peach shaped fruit. Gardeners can expect 9 to 14 tomatoes per cluster. 'Jolly' plants yield ripe fruit in about 70-75 days from transplanting. 'Jolly' will produce the highest quality tomatoes if vines are pruned and tied to verticle support. 'Jolly' plants are easy-to-grow offering meaty, sweet pink tomatoes fresh from your garden.

'Giant Marconi' Pepper is an improved Italian grilling variety. About 6 to 8 inches long, the tapered green pepper will mature to red on the 30-inch plant. 'Giant Marconi' tastes excellent raw but is best when grilled. It has a memorable sweet, smoky flavor. 'Giant Marconi' was judged best in its class for earliness, yield, pepper size and flavor. Plants are resistant to Potato Virus Y and Tobacco Mosaic Virus, which means the plants tend to live longer for an improved yield. Green peppers can be harvested in about 72 days from transplanting.

'Super Star' Onion is an improved white sweet onion recommended for all spring gardens in North America because it is day length neutral. Most onions require long days - (over 12 hours of sunlight) or short days to bulb. 'Super Star' does not have this requirement so it is widely adaptable. If seed is sown and transplanted early, 'Super Star' onions can weigh one pound or more, when mature in about 100 days. Resistant to pink root, 'Super Star' onions are exceptional when eaten raw, in salads or sandwiches. 'Super Star' is milder, sweeter and larger than 'White Sweet Spanish' the closest comparison.

There are many more AAS winners from previous years that still deserve a place in the garden. The Annual Manual lists many of the winners from the last 65 years, and most seed catalogs indicate which of their selections are winners.