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Photo Credit: All-America Selections

The All-America Selections logo means you can be assured it’s one of the best new varieties on the market.

All-America Selections (AAS) is a well-established horticulture group with the mission of promoting “new garden seed varieties with superior garden performance judged in impartial trials in North America.” The group was the brainchild of Southern seedsman Ray Hastings back in the “dark ages” of gardening in 1932.

Ray came up with the brilliant idea of establishing a network of trial grounds for new varieties of flowers and vegetables throughout the country. He figured the plants could be grown and assessed by impartial judges to find out which ones were top picks. With the help of the Southern Seedsman’s Association (of which he was president), Hastings set up 20 trial grounds nationwide. And that was just the beginning. Now there are nearly 50 trial grounds and about 200 display gardens growing AAS plants throughout the US and Canada!

Today, seedsmen all over the world vie for the chance to win the coveted award and be added to the list of AAS winning varieties. And we home gardeners benefit, too – we don’t have to wade through all the packets of seeds to find the best! Instead, we can just look for that AAS logo to find out what’s new, as well as determine which plants have better disease resistance, earlier bloom or yield, good uniformity, new flower colors and better veggie flavor.

Of course, that said, not every AAS winner is going to be a winner in your garden every time. There are just too many variables to make that happen. Nevertheless, you can be assured that if the seed packet or plant tag bears the AAS logo, you’re trying something new and different that has grown well around North America.