All-America Selections awards salvia, tomatoes and more

'Arizona Apricot' is a perennial blanketflower that blooms from seed the first year. Photo courtesy All-AmericaSelections.org

All-America Selections has announced its winners for 2011. AAS award-winning vegetables, annuals and perennials have been grown from seed in dozens of test gardens throughout the United States. These plants have surpassed existing cultivars in their flowers, fruits, resistance to heat, cold, insects or diseases and other factors.

Salvia 'Summer Jewel Red.' Photo courtesy All-AmericaSelections.org

Salvia ‘Summer Jewel Red’ (S. coccinea) blooms about two weeks earlier than others in this group. ‘Summer Jewel Red’ sports 20-inch tall spikes of bright red, one-half inch flowers all summer. Plant in full sun.

'Glamour Red' is AAS' first ornamental kale to win an award. Photo courtesy All-AmericaSelections.org

‘Glamour Red,’ the first ornamental kale (Brassica oleracea) to receive an AAS award, was recognized for its intense vivid pink and green shiny leaves. The flower heads reach 10 to 12 inches wide on 6 inch tall plants. The leaves develop color 90 days after sowing seed. Plant this cool season, frost tolerant annual in full sun.

Blanket flower ‘Arizona Apricot’ (Gaillardia x grandiflora) is a compact, long-blooming perennial. The 3-inch wide flowers have yellow edges that darken to apricot close to the center. It blooms 105 days after sowing seed. Plant in full sun and well-drained soil.

Tomato ‘Terenzo’ is a sweet candidate for hanging baskets or patio containers. Photo courtesy All-AmericaSelections.org

Two new cherry tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum) introductions were bred to grow in hanging baskets or patio containers in sunny spots

‘Lizzano’ gets 20 inches tall and wide with red, 1 inch fruit. Resistant to late blight, a fungus disease, fruit can be harvested 105 days after sowing seed or 63 days after transplant. ‘Terenzo’ has slightly larger fruit with a high sugar content. It, too, gets about 20 inches tall.

'Lizzano' tomato would work well in a hanging basket or a patio pot. Photo courtesy All-AmericaSelections.org

Other plants with 2011 awards: ‘Shangri-La Marina,’ a viola (V. cornuta) with a low growing mounding habit, and ‘Hijinks’ pumpkin (Cucurbita), perfect for a kid’s garden, with fruit in the 6 to 7 pound range. It is resistant to powdery mildew.

Gardeners should find seeds from online and mail order retailers and plants available for the 2011 growing season.