All-America Selections (AAS) recognized three new national AAS Winners for the 2018 garden season: American Dream sweet corn, Onyx Red ornamental pepper and Rad Racer F1 cocktail tomato.
These varieties were trialed throughout North American by professional, independent, volunteer judges who grew them next to comparisons that are considered best-in-class.
American Dream was bred by Illinois Foundation Seeds, Inc., the same company that introduced Honey ‘N Pearl, an AAS winner from 1988. In a tight trial, American Dream was pitted up against Honey ‘N Pearl and came through as the winner. Here’s what the judges had to say: With its excellent germination, very tender, super sweet kernels, this newbie will make a great addition to the home garden. American Dream matures slightly earlier than the comparisons and produces vigorous, healthy plants with cobs that have good tip fill of bi-colored kernels. Plants grow 6-7 feet tall and mature in 77 days after planting seed. Perfect fresh, roasted, grilled, canned or frozen.
Bred by Takii & Co., Ltd. Onyx Red is one of those stunning double-take plants that steal the show, says AAS judges. This breeding work has resulted in an unprecedented compact, well-branched ornamental pepper adorned with eye-catching dark black foliage. The contrast between the diminutive black foliage and tons of shiny red fruits is striking and makes a bold statement in the garden. Plants are vigorous, continually growing but retain their neat, compact habit, making Onyx Red a wonderful plant for beds, borders, containers and dramatic mass plantings. Naturally compact plants are perfect for a potted plant program as well as for an annual bedding plan where earliness and retail readiness are important factors.
Red Racer, bred by EarthWork Seeds and distributed by Garden Trends Wholesale, is a cocktail size tomato that produced small, uniform fruits with great taste in the AAS Trials. The judges say these cocktail tomatoes have a good sweet/acid balance and are a smaller variety tomato (although larger than cherry or grape tomatoes). They are uniform in size and mature as a cluster of fruits. The compact determinate plants produced a huge yield 7-10 days earlier than the comparisons and are ideal for small space and container gardens. One judge notes: “Red Racer is small in size but big in taste.”
For more information about AAS, which is celebrating its 85th anniversary as the only North American non-profit trialing organization for plants that demonstrate great garden performance, visit
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