All-America Selections (AAS) has announced the seven new AAS Winners for the 2022 garden season. All AAS Winners are trialed throughout North America by professional, independent, volunteer judges who grow new, never-before-sold entries next to comparisons that are considered best-in-class. Only those entries that had garden performance superior to the comparisons are granted the AAS award designation. Comparison varieties can be found on each AAS Winner webpage.
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Begonia ‘Viking Explorer Rose on Green’ (Sakata Ornamentals)
This Gold Medal winning, garden-faring beauty performs exceptionally well and has high impact color. This trailing begonia explores the garden by spreading and spilling its branches over the edges of hanging baskets and containers. Prolific rose-colored flowers stand out against the glossy green foliage and do so all season long. It has a strong tolerance to heat and many diseases, as well as both wet and dry conditions.
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Pepper ‘Dragonfly’ (Bejo Seeds)
Dragonfly pepper plants produce beautiful purple peppers that have thick, sweet walls. Similar to the beloved dragonfly that flits around your garden, this pepper transforms itself from a green pepper into a purple fruit that is as delicious at the green stage of maturity as it is when fully purple and mature. Overall, a much better purple color than comparisons with above average, robust pepper flavor. Fruits are held high on the plant, keeping them from the soil.
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Sunflower ‘Concert Bell’ (Tohoku Seed Co.)
Concert Bell puts on quite a performance with a unique flower presentation of multiple clusters of 10 to 12 flowers on an erect columnar stem. Beautiful golden yellow blooms appear earlier than the comparisons. Each plant grows to a very uniform height of 5 to 6 feet and if used as a cut flower, it makes an instant, ready-made bouquet from just one cut. Excellent seed germination makes this beauty very easy to grow and is perfect for continuous sowing to keep blooms going through the end of summer.
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Tomato ‘Pink Delicious’ (Vegetables by Bayer)
This early maturing tomato supports the trend of having heirloom look, flavor, and texture with hybrid disease resistance and improved germination, meaning it is much easier for home gardeners to grow. When grown next to the comparisons, this variety is definitely earlier with a higher yield and a very uniform fruit size. The beautiful big fruits do not crack as much. What really sets this variety apart is the excellent flavor and a high Brix for a sweeter than normal pink tomato.
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Tomato ‘Purple Zebra’ (A.P. Whaley Seed Co.)
Purple Zebra tomato is a fun new addition to striped tomatoes, producing tomatoes that are rich with complex flavors and a moderately firm texture. Dark-red fruits with green stripes and a deep mahogany red interior do not produce muddy coloration like other tomatoes of this type. The taste is sweet and acidic leaning to sweet. Overall, this tomato has a better taste and thinner skin than comparisons, with excellent disease resistance.
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Tomato ‘Sunset Torch’ (A.P. Whaley Seed Co.)
Sunset Torch has strong, dramatic striping from stem to tip. This is a very vigorous grower and was the first to ripen in multiple regions. Overall better performance, less splitting, good yields, a mildly sweet, fruity flavor, and disease resistance make this cutie a winner.
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Torenia ‘Vertigo Deep Blue’ (AmeriSeed International Co.)
Torenia Vertigo is a brand new torenia ideal for both containers and the landscape. AAS Judges were impressed with the number of flowers on each plant and the vibrant non-fading blue petals that contrast beautifully with the sky blue and yellow centers. This torenia performed exceptionally well in warmer climates such as in the Mountain/Southwest and Florida. Torenia Vertigo has a compact habit, flowers for a very long period of time and has glossy green foliage. The large blooms do not fade even when exposed to strong sunlight.
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Begonia ‘Viking Explorer Rose on Green’ (Sakata Ornamentals)
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Pepper ‘Dragonfly’ (Bejo Seeds)
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Sunflower ‘Concert Bell’ (Tohoku Seed Co.)
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Tomato ‘Pink Delicious’ (Vegetables by Bayer)
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Tomato ‘Purple Zebra’ (A.P. Whaley Seed Co.)
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Tomato ‘Sunset Torch’ (A.P. Whaley Seed Co.)
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Torenia ‘Vertigo Deep Blue’ (AmeriSeed International Co.)
Begonia ‘Viking Explorer Rose on Green’ (National Gold Medal)
Pepper ‘Dragonfly’ (National)
Sunflower ‘Concert Bell’ (National)
Tomato ‘Pink Delicious’ (Regional)
Tomato ‘Purple Zebra’ (National)
Tomato ‘Sunset Torch’ (Regional)
Torenia ‘Vertigo Deep Blue’ (Regional)
Growers, retailers and consumers will find these varieties for sale as supply becomes available through the distribution chain. Newer winners are featured in custom videos in social media posts and on the AAS YouTube channel.
All award-winning varieties are marketed through social media, public relations, and trade shows and are proudly grown in more than 200 AAS Display Gardens across North America. In addition, the AAS office creates and maintains a wide variety of marketing pieces and resources such as Printable brochures and Bench cards and variety markers.
AAS also launched the Introduction Gardens program in 2021 as a way for industry to view the AAS Winners at their favorite Field Day, Grower Open House, Customer Day, etc.
