Another Illinois winter has gone with the promise of spring to soon arrive. Garden catalogs have been arriving for months allowing gardeners to look forward to spring 2022 - the fresh air, energic wildlife, and the gardening. While many have already bought seeds and started to sow them, what if you’re just now thumbing through seed and plant catalogs looking for inspiration, warmth, and a new challenge?
Another Illinois winter has gone with the promise of spring to soon arrive. Garden catalogs have been arriving for months allowing gardeners to look forward to spring 2022 - the fresh air, energic wildlife, and the gardening. While many have already bought seeds and started to sow them, what if you’re just now thumbing through seed and plant catalogs looking for inspiration, warmth, and a new challenge?
National Vegetable Winners
Eggplant Icicle F1, Solanum melongena var. Icicle F1: This is a white eggplant with fewer spines than other eggplants. The larger cylindrical fruits have fewer seeds. At 48 inches tall, it requires staking. It has 55 days to harvest from transplant. The plant spreads 28 inches.
Lettuce Bauer, Lactuca sativa variety Bauer: Ideal for in-ground, containers, or raised beds. Uniform, compact, dense heads of dark green leaves. 58 days to harvest from seed and 34 days from transplant. Harvest at baby or full-sized leaves for enjoyment. An excellent candidate for controlled environments.
Pepper Buffy F1, Capsicum frutescens variety Buffy F1: Good yielding, faster maturing, hot pepper with thick walls and 500,000 Scoville units. Upright, 28-inch plants with heat tolerance and ornamental value. It has 70 days to harvest from transplant.
Pepper Dragonfly F1, Capsicum annuum variety Dragonfly F1: Purple, four-lobed, sweet bell peppers with thick walls. The purple color changes to red if it is left on the vine too long. Plant height is 24 inches to 36 inches. Each plant produces 40 peppers. It has 75 days to harvest from transplant.
Tomato Purple Zebra F1, Solanum lycopersicum var. Purple Zebra F1: A sweet-leaning acidic tomato with disease resistance. It has green stripes on dark red thinner-skinned fruits. It has 80 to 85 days to harvest from transplant. Its upright growth habit requires staking. Each plant produces 150 to 200 tomatoes.
Regional (Heartland) Vegetable Winner
Tomato Pink Delicious, Solanum lycopersicum variety Pink Delicious: A pink, early maturing, higher yielding, and beefsteak uniform tomato. Good disease resistance. Higher Brix (sugar) for a pink tomato. A 6-foot-tall upright climber with a 3-foot spread. It has 84 days to harvest from transplant.
Regional (Great Lakes) Vegetable Winner
Watermelon Century Star F1, Citrullus lanatus variety Century Star F1: A 10-pound, round, seedless, spotted variety. Crisp melon with sweet flesh. Vines spread 9 feet to 11 feet. Bears two to three fruits per plant. It has 65 days to harvest from transplant and 75 days from seed.
Gold Medal Winners
Begonia Viking™ Explorer Rose on Green F1, Begonia x hybrid variety Viking™ Explorer Rose on Green F1: An annual, trailing begonia with rose-colored flowers that is excellent for hanging baskets and containers. Heat, weather, and disease tolerant. Pollinator friendly and 50 days to flower from transplant.
Petunia Bee’s Knees, Petunia x hybrid variety Bee’s Knees: This is the first petunia Gold Medal winner in 72 years. It has lush yellow, non-fading flowers on green leaves and needs little maintenance with a mounding and trailing habit. It is an annual flower that is heat and rain tolerant and pollinator friendly.
National Flower Winner
Sunflower Concert Bell F1, Helianthus annuus L variety Concert Bell F1: Sturdy and durable, Concert Bell F1 has multiple clusters of 10 to 12 annual flowers. It is a uniform height at 5 feet to 6 feet. It is earlier to flower than other sunflowers. Direct seed for a great landscape attraction or for cut flowers.
Looking for something else to fill in your landscape and gardens? The All-America Selections website, all-americaselections.org, contains a list of all past vegetables and flowers winners since its founding in 1933.
For more information about gardening, check out the Illinois Extension Horticulture website at extension.illinois.edu/global/horticulture or their YouTube channel at go.illinois.edu/UniversityOfIllinoisExtensionHorticulture.
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