All-America Selections Flowers

Five flowers and four vegetables have been declared All-America Selections award winners for the new millennium. AAS is a non-profit organization for evaluating new seed-grown flowers and vegetables from around the world for home garden eprformance. All the year 2000 winners will be available this coming garden season in seed or already-started transplants. To buy seedlings, ask for them by variety name at your local garden center.

This week I'll be covering the five flower winners. Next week, we'll review the vegetable winners.

"Soraya" sunflower. The name comes from an ancient European princess, and I suspect she may have been tall with an imposing posture because that's precisely what this new sunflower is like. "Soraya" grows 5 to 6 feet tall and really stands out in any garden -- what with its distinctive 4 to 6-inch flowers that are orange instead of the traditional yellow. The orange flowers have chocolate brown centers. Stems are about 12 to 15 inches long, making them perfect as cut flowers.

"Melody Pink" dianthus. This mid-size carnation fits perfectly into the cottage-type gardeb, thanks to plants that are about 2 feet high. The plant shape is like a "V," and is light and airy on the top. The sprays of 1-inch pink flowers will bloom throughout summer. You don't have to worry about "Melody Pink" dying when the weather really starts to warm up either.

"Stardust Orchid" vinca. With flowers that look like impatiens, but a plant that is so tough it can take the hottest weather, "Stardust Orchid" is a vinca that will fit in any summer garden. Plants grow 14 to 16 inches tall, with glossy green foliage. The single-petaled flowers are an orchid and white bicolor. The unique color draws attention from a distance and reflects light at dusk. Another of its attributes is its long flowering season.

"Cosmic Orange" cosmos. This winner could have earned thousands of in-flight miles if tracked from its origin. Cosmos is a native of Mexico, but "Cosmic Orange" was bred in Germany and tested at 33 AAS judging sites across North America. It rpoved to have superior garden performance, with a dense plant and exceptional flowering. The 2-inch orange flowers glow on the plant from early summer to frost. Plant height is 12 to 22 inches, with a width of 12 to 17 inches.

"Fiesta del Sol" tithonia. More commonly known as the Mexican sunflower, this award winner offers orange daisy-like flowers. The plant thrives in heat, and will attract butetrflies and hummingbirds. The single, daisy-like flowers are 2 inches across, and bloom on plants that are 24 to 36 inches high. "Fiesta del Sol" is the first dwarf tithonia reaching only 2 to 3 feet.

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