AAS Winners announced for 2025
All-America Selections (AAS) has announced five new AAS Winners for the 2025 gardening season. This brings the total number of 2025 AAS Winners to 20.All AAS Winners are trialed throughout North America by professional, independent volunteer judges who grow new, never-before-sold entries next to comparisons that are considered best-in-class. Only those entries that have superior garden performance, better than the comparisons, are granted the AAS award designation.
The newest AAS Winners for 2025 are:
- Basil ‘Piedmont’ — Regional Winner
- Cauliflower ‘Murasaki Fioretto 70 F1’ — National Winner
- Celosia ‘Flamma Pink’ — National Winner
- Vinca ‘Sphere Polkadot’ — National Winner
- Zinnia ‘Crestar Mix’ — National Winner
Basil ‘Piedmont’
AAS Edible Winner
Regional Winner: Great Lakes and Heartland
Bred by Garden Genetics and Seeds by Design
Cauliflower ‘Murasaki Fioretto 70 F1’
AAS Edible Winner
National Winner
Murasaki (“purple” in Japanese), a new addition to the Fioretto long-stemmed cauliflower series (from the Italian word for “flower”), is a culinary and visual delight. Its vibrant purple florets and long, tender stems offer a sweet, mild flavor and are easy to harvest. This heat-tolerant variety maintains its striking color through various cooking methods, transforming to fuchsia in vinegar and a rich golden brown when sautéed or roasted. Enjoy it raw as a colorful crudité. Murasaki’s compact habit, early maturity, and excellent field holding make it a rewarding choice for home gardeners.
Celosia ‘Flamma Pink’
AAS Ornamental from Seed Winner
National Winner
Introducing another winning celosia from the Flamma series! This semi-dwarf pink variety boasts exceptional flower power, thanks to strong basal branching and abundant secondary heads. The result is a vibrant, long-lasting display of upright blooms that create a striking visual impact in the garden or in bouquets. Its vigorous field performance ensures it thrives even in hot and humid conditions, offering excellent display and shelf life that lasts well beyond expectations. Perfect for bedding or cutting, this easy-to-grow celosia delivers continuous color and beauty.
Distributed in North America by Sakata Seed America
Vinca ‘Sphere Polkadot’
AAS Ornamental from Seed Winner
National Winner
This new vinca boasts a charming, compact and uniformly rounded habit, creating a sphere of flowers that bloom profusely all summer long. Its key benefits include excellent disease resistance, strong performance in hot dry conditions and superior resilience against heavy rain and storms; a crucial advantage in regions experiencing increasingly severe weather. This fast-flowering variety features small, sparkling blooms on glossy foliage, making it an ideal choice for walkways, borders, containers, and eco-friendly gardens.
Zinnia ‘Crestar Mix’
AAS Ornamental from Seed Winner
National Winner
Looking for a zinnia that offers it all? Meet Crestar Mix, a brand-new AAS Winner that combines the best of crested zinnias in one fantastic varietal mix. Crested zinnias, also known as scabiosa-flowered zinnias, are known for their distinctive semi-double blooms with a pronounced central disc. Crestar Mix brings together a vibrant palette of colors—including pink, orange, red, white, peach and yellow—in a single planting. For a stunning display and a continuous supply of cut flowers all summer long, plant Crestar Mix in masse and try succession planting. These beauties boast large, striking blooms on healthy, robust plants that thrive even in summer’s heat and humidity.
Photos courtesy of All America Selections.