More 2020 AAS winners

Fri. Jan. 17, 2020

Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: More 2020 AAS winners

 As cold winter winds whip, (currently 3 below zero “feels like” temp) it’s a wonderful time to peruse more 2020 All America Selections winners!

yup, it’s cold!

There’s a gorgeous new coleus! I know, you’re thinking there are already a lot, but this one, named Main Street Beale Street’ is an outstanding variety with deep red foliage that holds its color extremely well, not fading, bleaching out or getting spotty as the season moves into late summer.

Coleus ‘Main street Beale street’ – photo by AAS

The lush, bushy plant grows uniformly up to around 2 ½ ft tall and wide!  and… huge bonus… doesn’t flower until very late in the season – up to 6 weeks later than the comparisons! It can also be grown from full sun to full shade and is tolerant of heat, wind and rain! More information from Penn State

Coleus ‘Main street Beale street’ up close photo by Penn State

Now here’s something completely different, at least for me, an apple shaped tomato. According to AAS, If you’ve never tried an apple-shaped tomato, now is the time. ‘Apple Yellow F1’ offers incredible garden performance, a uniquely dimpled apple-shaped fruit with a deliciously sweet citrusy taste and firm, meaty texture.

Tomato ‘Apple yellow F1’

Wow, that sounds fabulous, but wait, there’s more! The Indeterminate 5’ tall vines produce abundantly in clusters, with the fruits an eye-catching, bright, lemon yellow. The tomatoes are also non-splitting!

‘Apple Yellow F1’

Those judges added that ‘Apple Yellow’ has just the right balance of sugar and acid and would be perfect stuffed with a savory cheese for a delicious appetizer. It also has very good disease resistance!  Disease Resistances or Tolerances: Tomato yellow leaf curl, Tomato mosaic 2A, Fusarium, Late blight, Bacterial wilt

The days to harvest are 110, which means, for those of us in cold climates, it could be a little trickier. There are 122 days between May 30th and September 30th, so if you plant this one in zone 3, you’ll likely need to give it protection.

As I was looking for places to purchase Apple Yellow, I found this from Cornell University. It’s an extensive list of tomato varieties with ratings and days to harvest information plus a lot more! Take a peek HERE.

PS, I couldn’t YET find places to purchase this tomato! I’ll keep you posted.