Make room in your garden or containers for the new All-America Selections 2024 award-winning plants. These winning varieties are tested in trial gardens across the United States and Canada. Volunteer judges rate entries based on their improved performance, flavor, disease resistance and other unique qualities related to their performance in gardens and containers.
Celosia burning embers was selected for its bronze foliage with dark pink veins that contrast with its vibrant pink flowers. Like other celosias, this variety is heat-, humidity- and drought-tolerant. Grow it in a container or garden bed in a sunny location. Grow plenty, as you will want to pick a few to add to summer bouquets and dried arrangements.
Siam Gold marigold is another season-long bloomer that thrives in full sun and tolerates heat and drought. The 3- to 4-inch double flowers top 18-20″ tall plants that do not need staking. Purchase transplants or extend your planting budget by starting these seeds right in the garden.
Interspecific Solarscape XL Pink Jewel impatiens offers a tropical look and feel to full and partly sunny locations. You'll enjoy flowers all season long, as well, as this plant has superior disease resistance, including resistance to downy mildew disease. Grow this en masse in garden beds and borders or in a few containers on your patio, deck or balcony.
SureShot White Petunia can tolerate crazy weather conditions, including heat, cold, rain and sunshine. This petunia hybrid grows 8-10 inches tall and works well in containers, hanging baskets and garden beds. You'll enjoy the lightly fragrant flowers that help attract bees and other pollinators to your gardens.
EnViva Pink petchoa is a cultivar of a petunia and calibrachoa hybrid. This variety wowed the judges with its mounded habit that persisted throughout the growing season. The bright pink flowers with yellow throat held up through heat and rain. Grow these in containers, hanging baskets and garden beds.
Sweetheart Kisses verbena adds a vibrant mix of red, rose, pink and a bit of white to full and partly sunny spots in your landscape. The airy foliage creates a nice backdrop for the flowers. Use it as an annual groundcover, edger in a flower bed or mixed border or in a container alone or mixed with other annuals. Then watch for the butterflies and bees stopping by the flowers.
Big EEZE Pink Batik geranium's unique pink and white mosaic blooms perform as well as other members of the Big EEZE series. The plant produces an abundance of flowers of equal size and coloration. It performed well in full to partial sun in containers and garden beds.
Combine these winners with your other favorite flowers to create a stunning landscape and eye-catching containers this growing season.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including "The Midwest Gardener's Handbook" and "Small Space Gardening." She hosts the Great Courses' "How to Grow Anything" DVD series and the syndicated "Melinda's Garden Moment" program on TV and radio.