The lineup of 2025 AAS Winners has been announced, and in the edibles category it includes four national winners and one regional winner. For those who might not be familiar with it, All-America Selections (AAS) is an independent, non-profit organization that tests new varieties of flowers and edibles in trial grounds all over the U.S. and Canada. I grow quite a few AAS Winners in my garden every year, and I always look forward to trying the new winners here at Happy Acres. There are two squashes, one tomato, one pepper and one kohlrabi that made the Winners list for 2025 as well as ten ornamentals.
Kohlrabi Konstance is a new purple skinned hybrid kohlrabi that promises to be crack resistant, and with good flavor. It compared favorably to Kolibri in trials, and one judge noted “This entry impressed me against the comparisons, having significantly more uniform, rounded, crack resistant fruit.” We love our kohlrabi here, and I look forward to growing this one for sure.
Kohlrabi Konstance
Pick-N-Pop Yellow Pepper is a snack-sized mini pepper that grows on disease-resistant plants. The peppers are sweet and crunchy, and produce continuously on medium sized plants. The peppers are ready to harvest in 65 days after setting out plants.
Pepper Pick-N-Pop Yellow
Squash Green Lightning is a green-striped pattypan type summer squash that is early maturing (40-45 days) and grows on a bush type plant. The green stripes and shape are unique, to say the least, and one judge commented “Small seed cavity. Good eating quality.” I look forward to trying this one in our garden.
Squash Green Lightning
Squash Thriller is a striped, Carnival type dumpling squash with 1-2 pound fruits that grow on semi-bush plants. Bred by Sakata Seed, AAS judges have described its rich-orange, dense, and nutty flesh as having a ‘far improved eating quality’ compared to similar types, especially when roasted. It’s decorative as well as tasty, and this National Winner should do well in most gardens.
Squash Thriller
Regional Winner Tomato Tonatico is a red cherry type tomato that compared favorably with Supersweet 100 variety in trials. Judges were impressed by the taste and texture of the easy to harvest fruits that grow on long trusses. The Tomatico disease resistant vines have an indeterminate growth habit, and the fruits begin to ripen about 60 days after setting out transplants.
Tomato Tonatico
A couple of non-edibles look especially interesting to me. Marigold Mango Tango has bi-colored flowers of yellow and red on compact plants that get 8-10 inches tall. Judges were impressed with the long flowering plants that tolerated both cold and hot conditions.
Marigold Mango Tango
And Petunia Shake Raspberry has multi-colored flowers on compact plants that spread about 8-10 inches wide. This one is also well suited for pots and containers, where the abundant blooms provide color over a long period of time.
Petunia Shake Raspberry
For a full list of both present and past winners, visit All-America Selections Winners. Their website also has information on where to Buy AAS Winners.
I hope you have enjoyed this review of a few of the 2025 AAS vegetables winners. For more information about AAS Winners check out:
- The 2018 All-America Selections Winners
- 2019 All-America Selections Winners
- 2020 All-America Selections Winners
- 2022 All-America Selections Winners
- 2023 All-America Selections Winners
- My Favorite AAS Veggies
All photos are courtesy of All-America Selections.
