5 More New AAS Vegetable Winners for 2015

• Facebook
• Tweet
• Pinterest
• Reddit
• Email

All-America Selections, the organization which tests new seed grown vegetable and flower varieties, has selected 14 new vegetables for 2015 awards. I reported on 5 new pepper varieties in a recent blog. Here are 5 more vegetables receiving awards. Look for them at catalog and internet seed sources. More vegetables and flowers will be described in subsequent blogs.

Basil Dolce Fresca is a new bush basil that produces sweet tender leaves that outshone the comparison varieties while maintaining an attractive, compact shape that’s both versatile and beautiful. After harvest, the plant was quick to recover and kept the desired ornamental shape that’s perfect for containers, borders or as a focal point. Great for gardeners looking for drought tolerant, hardy plants and foodies interested in a new and better basil.

Brussels Sprouts Hestia F1 is excellent flavored with a bright green exterior and smooth, dense yellow interior. The erect plant maintains its nice shape throughout the season and was judged notably more uniform than comparison varieties. Hestia tolerates much cooler temperatures and the flavor improves deliciously when the temperatures dip into the 30’s. Suitable for harvest into October and November in the Pacific Northwest.

Cucumber Parisian Gherkin F1 is an excellent mini or gherkin pickling cucumber which can be picked either at the midget size or small pickle stage and processed. The numerous cucumbers can also be enjoyed fresh in salads and slaws. The crisp cucumbers have a sweet flavor and process into pickles well. The semi vining plants can be planted in the garden or staked patio containers. Plants grow and produce quickly. It is a very easy to grow, disease resistant variety well adapted to container gardens or raised beds.

Lettuce Sandy is an attractive oakleaf type lettuce with a multitude of sweet tasting frilly dark green leaves. Not just pretty and tasty, Sandy has exceptional disease resistance, especially to powdery mildew and is especially slow to bolt. Use Sandy as cut and come again baby leaf, or grow to full maturity for loose salad heads. The uniformly mounded loose heads are well adapted to both raised beds and containers. Sandy Can be planted in patio containers with cool season edible flowers to enjoy.  Typically not bitter even when heat-stressed.

Radish Roxanne F1 is a hybrid with uniform bright red color and a beautiful creamy white interior. Roxanne is a great tasting radish with no pithiness or bleeding even at a larger size. It has nice shape, size and uniformity. In our climate Roxanne can be sown at 4 week intervals all summer for a continuous harvest. This radish can easily be grown in a pot at least 4 inches deep. A very pretty and tasty radish.