2026 All American Selections

by Ray Novitske, Fairfax Master Gardener
All-American Selections Inc. is out with its latest picks for the best flowers and edibles. Their choices represent the best trial garden performances across North America over the past few years. Judges consist of selected industry experts, past judges, universities, public gardens, growers, brokers, extension agents and retailers. The winners represent the plants that demonstrate the best garden performance across North America as a result of growing in these trial and test gardens.

Dianthus Supra Cherry Picotee

This interspecific hybrid joins the Supra series, delivering profuse, eye-catching blooms on a very compact, bushy plant. Judges admired its excellent habit and strong heat and drought resistance throughout summer. Fringed blooms feature a picotee pattern, opening with dark cherry centers and soft pink edges.

Sedum Spectacular

This sedum grown from seed delivers the rock-solid garden performance typically found only in vegetative varieties. Plants are sturdy, full, and do not flop, maintaining a tight, compact, mounded habit. This variety flowers slightly earlier than others with uniformity in both height and spread.

Coreopsis SunGlobe

Bring season-long color to your sunny spots with this outstanding Coreopsis. Its great habit and impressive bloom quantity were praised by judges. It produces fluffy, golden yellow, semi-double flowers on sturdy stems slightly earlier than others, and maintains a tidy, compact, and densely branching form.

Heliopsis Sole Giatto

This compact False Sunflower is perfect for containers, borders or any sunny spot. At 20 inches (50 cm) tall and wide, this bountiful perennial blooms with long-lasting, bright yellow blooms from late spring right through fall. It was bed for extended garden performance, and effortlessly attracts beneficial pollinators while resisting deer and rabbits.

Cauliflower Murasaki Fioretto

Murasaki is the purple addition to the long-stemmed cauliflower. A culinary and visual delight, this series offers us vibrant purple on with long, tender stems with a sweet, mild flavor. This heat-tolerant variety grows in a compact habit and matures early in the season. It maintains its striking color through various cooking methods.

Basil Treviso

This award-winning basil displays a tight, compact highly-branching habit perfect for containers or small spaces. Not only does it offer delicious slightly anise-flavored leaves, but stays tender longer, resisting bitterness and maintaining leaf quality long into the season. Judges loved the heat tolerance and slowness to flower.

Tomato BadaBing

A game-changing large cherry (almost cocktail-sized) tomato is ready for your garden. This incredible new variety offers unprecedented protection against Septoria Leaf Spot, Early Blight, and Late Blight. Tomatoes are early-season with outstanding flavor in juicy, crack-resistant fruits. This was bred for superior garden performance and robust disease resistance.

Zinnia Profusion Double White Improved

This pure white profusion zinnia holds up through the hottest summer. It produces impressive, large, double flowers that create a full, lush look on the plant. The sturdy compact plant is disease-resistant, and thrives in diverse climates, even enduring the high night temperatures of our area. It blooms continuously without the hassle of deadheading.

Pole Bean Majesty

This new purple pole bean delivers high yield, superior quality, and rugged performance. Plants maintain dense, dark green foliage with notable resistance to insect damage and excellent recovery from summer heat stress. Pods are beautifully straight and uniform in size and boast a delicious, sweet flavor and tender, non-bitter texture.

Rudbeckia Claire™ Orange

This is the world’s first pollen-free F1 hybrid Rudbeckia. Compact, early-flowering blooms appear in abundance with bright, clear orange color. The central “eye” remains perfectly clean, free from pollen (pollinators hate.) Its exceptional vigor, impressive heat and disease tolerance ensure a long-lasting, vibrant display even in challenging conditions.

Kale Rubybor

This kale is a dual-purpose showstopper as it won a Gold Medal award in both the ornamental and vegetable trials. Its rich, deep purple foliage and uniform, compact habit make it a standout ornamental in any garden or container. This selection maintains its excellent color and tidy, bushy shape. making it ideal for ideal for smaller spaces and Southern heat. The beautiful leaves are exceptionally tender and non-bitter for eating.

Squash, Winter Butter Lamp

This mini, pumpkin-shaped butternut squash strong, healthy plants gives excellent resistance to Powdery Mildew, heat, and insect pressure. The maturing variety features short vines, requiring less garden space than traditional types. The squash offers a smooth, sweet, nutty, and buttery flavor, with superb storability for storage well into winter.

Basil Piedmont

Bring the flavors of Piedmont Italy to your garden with a disease-resistant basil. Exceptional Downy Mildew resistance produces healthier plants with extra weeks of harvest as compared to other varieties. This basil produces dense, bushy plants because of its shorter internodes, while maintaining its strong aroma and classic basil flavor.

Celosia Flamma Pink

From the Flamma series, this semi-dwarf celosia is noted for its exceptional flower color and strong basal branching with abundant secondary heads. The long-lasting display of upright blooms work well in cut bouquets. Its vigorous field performance ensures it thrives even in hot and humid summer conditions with a display that lasts well beyond expectations.

If you are interested in viewing the trial plants on display during the growing season, visit these nearby gardens:

Brent & Becky’s Bulbs, Gloucester, VA
Rapidan River Master Gardeners Demonstration Garden, Rapidan, VA
Hahn Horticulture Garden, Blacksburg, VA (edibles)
Hampton Roads AREC Virginia Tech, Virginia Beach, VA (flowers)
Norfolk Botanical Garden, Norfolk, VA
Community Arboretum at Virginia Western, Roanoke, VA
Clyburn Arboretum, Baltimore, MD (flowers)
Frederick County Career and Technology Center, Frederick, MD
Parkside High A+ Garden, Salisbury, MD
University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anna, MD (flowers)

Reference
All American Selections, winners