From music to movies,football to fairy talesand art to automobiles,every aspect of life hasits classics. Things thatstand the test of time to
become cultural treasures.Beethoven’s Fifth, “Gone Withthe Wind,” Cinderella, FordMustang (the original), “To Killa Mockingbird,” “Mona Lisa,”“Somewhere Over the Rain-bow,” “Hey Jude” — you get theidea. So why not flower andvegetable seeds?As far as I’m concerned, thetime has come for a list of all-time annuals. So I’m happy to tellyou that All-America Selections,a consortium ofU.S. seed grow-ers, has obliged.This year, the Illinois-basedorganization is celebrating its75th anniversary and, in honorof the occasion, it not onlyselected its yearly winners butwent a step further. For the firsttime in its history, the groupannounced five All AmericaClassics.The inductees into this horti-cultural hall of fame are twopetunia varieties, a dianthus, agiant pansy and a big red tomato.If you’ve grown any of them, youhave reason to glow. The peopleresponsible for their propagationand production are already cheer-ing.I’ll start the lineup with BigBeef, an early maturing beef-steak tomato. This Big Beef isnothing to complain about. “It’sone in a million,” says DanCroker, regional sales managerfor Seminis Vegetable Seeds,which put the eight-to-12-ouncetomato on the market 12 yearsago. “The only complaint I’veever heard is that you have totie up the vines really wellbecause the fruit is so big.”Along with flavor, Big Beef’svirtues include resistance toverticillium, fusarium, nema-tode, tobacco mosaic virus andother diseases.It adds to its luster that BigBeef was hybridized by the lateColen Wyatt, who also thoughtsmall and created Husky Gold,a highly regarded cherry toma-to. In all, he bred more than 50varieties of vegetables. “Wenamed a pumpkin after him,”Dan told me. “Wyatt’s Wonder,a great big, 100-pounder.”I’ve always been fascinatedby plant breeders, whom I thinkof as artist-scientists possessedof infinite patience. “Mostbreeders are, well, a differentbreed,” Dan said in a phoneinterview. “They’re quirky. Itwas often difficult for Colen toexplain his ideas in words. Butonce you hashed out a concept— within three years he’d come
up with what you asked for.Colen expressed himself in hisplants.”Wave Purple, a disease-resis-tant, 4- to 6-inch-tall flower thatspreads like a ground cover, hasan equally interesting back-ground. During All-AmericaSelections trials, the names ofbreeders are kept secret. All thewell-known petunia breederswere sure one of their grouphad developed the strikingviolet ground cover. But, as itturned out, the man they wouldraise a glass to worked for abeer company — Kirin Breweryof Japan.This is not as surprising asyou might think. Beer compa-nies need plant breeders toproduce better barley and hops.Japanese firms give their horti-culturists time to work onpersonal projects. And DaigakuTakeshita of Kirin got to workcrossing hybrid petunias withwild species, creating new maleand female lines, selecting andbreeding the progeny and even-tually coming up with a winnerin Wave Purple.“He’s a humble fellow andextremely proud of this honor,”Ben Walraven, worldwide salesdirector of PanAmerican Seedin Chicago told me by phone.PanAmerican, which has beenbreeding petunias for half acentury, took over producingand marketing Wave Purpleeverywhere in the world exceptJapan. Now there are six variet-ies in the Wave family andthree other petunia series underthe “Ride the Wave” banner.Daigaku is still with Kirin, busyhybridizing petunias as well asvinca and primula.PanAmerican also marketsIdeal Violet, the dianthus hon-ored as a classic. The appropri-ately named bloom, whichdebuted 15 years ago, toleratesboth heat and cold. This seemslogical since it was developedin the South of France, wherewinter can be very cold andsummer very hot. Ideal Violet is
exactly that, both in containersand the garden. It thrives fromspring through summer withdelicate violet flowers, growsup to 12 inches tall and branch-es a foot wide.The other petunia in the
classic mix is Ultra CrimsonStar — which won the annualaward in 1988. It boldly lives upto its name with a white starpattern on 3- to 4-inch crimsonflowers. All that and it’s anearly bloomer you don’t have topinch or cut back. It just keepsshowing off. It was bred byMathilde “Tilly” Holtrop ofGoldsmith Seeds, who alsocreated another All-AmericaSelections winner — the minia-ture petunia Fantasy PinkMorn.The fifth honoree is a
bunch of familiar faces thathave been smiling at garden-ers since 1966, when the plantwas developed by SukeoMiyazaki of the Sakata SeedCorp., who is now retired.The bouquet goes to MajesticGiants Mix, those vivid pan-sies with the traditional cat’sfaces on 4-inch blooms.“Majestic Giants is the Kleen-
ex of the garden world,” JohnNelson, director of sales andmarketing for Sakata, told mewhen I called him. “When yousay the word ‘tissue,’ everyonethinks Kleenex — they’re synon-ymous. When you say the word‘pansy’ you think MajesticGiants.”John’s pride is pardonable
and, like he says, “It’s reallysomething to set an industrystandard and maintain it for40 years.” And the old bunchhas outstanding attributeseven beyond size and color —the mix does just fine inspring or fall as well as in sunor shade.So there you have it. Four
flowers and a big tomato thatwill stand out in your field andmine. They’ve stood the test oftime.They’re truly classics.
IRENEVIRAG
gardens
Write to Irene Virag at 1019 Fort Salonga Rd., Suite 10,#302, Northport, NY 11768
or email [email protected] her blog at irenevirag.com.
As it announced its all-timeclassics, All-America Selec-tions also picked its 2007 cropof top annuals. The winners:Pepper Holy Molé: Dis-
ease-resistant plants produce8-inch-long green peppersthat mature into a yummyshade of chocolate. Within 85days of planting seedlings,you’ll be harvesting the tangyfruit for its true purpose —sweet-spicy molé sauce.Petunia Opera SupremePinkMorn: Big, shimmeringpink flowers on trailing stemscreate carpets of color thatdon’t need deadheading andmake a statement cascadingfrom containers or spilling
down slopes. It takes 90 to 110days for seeds to blossom intoplants that spread 3 to 4 feet.Vinca Pacifica Burgundy
Halo: Velvety burgundybloomswith largewhite centersand heat and drought tolerancemake this vinca awinner. Itgrows a foot high andwide andtakes 60 days to flower.Celosia Fresh LookGold:
This celosia looks fresh allsummer. Its 3- to 4-inch-tallgolden plumes don’t stand up toheat, humidity and rain. Seedstake about 110 days to flower.Visit all-americaselections
.org for seed companies andlocal retailers offering 2007winners. — IRENE VIRAG
Celosia Fresh Look Gold
Two of the All America Classics: Big Beef tomato, top,and Majestic Giants Mix pansies.
Classics: 4 flowers and a tomato
ALL-AMERICA SELECTIONS PHOTOS
Annuals to pick in 2007
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