All-America Selections – Testing New Vegetable Cultivars for the Gardening Public

All-America Selections© (AAS) is a non-profit agency charged with the mission of testing new garden cultivars of flowers and vegetables and promoting the best ones to nurseries who grow and distribute them as well to end users across North America.  Their slogan, “tested nationally & proven locally,” is more telling than only a catch phrase. Before the founding of AAS in 1932, gardeners used information in seed catalogs to make their choices; much of this information was often exaggerated and biased. Only new cultivars which have not yet been sold are allowed in these trials. Entries are compared to the most similar cultivars which are already on the market. Vegetable cultivars are trialed by judges in 26 test locations in the United States and Mexico.  There are a total of 50 trial grounds including flowers, bedding plants, and cool season trials as well as vegetables. Some judges handle more than one category. Judges, who are all independent and volunteer, use a 0-5 scale and rate over a number of categories for each entry. Testing is very stringent and AAS awards are only assigned to new entries that are better than anything else already on the market. Only the highest scores, averaged across all test locations, are considered for awards. Entries which are otherwise excellent, but not superior in some categories, receive low ratings and do not win.  Many state and regional awards exist today, but AAS is the oldest and most established independent testing organization in North America. The AAS program, recent winners of this award, and judging opportunities will be presented.

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