Minnesota gardeners are, of course, interested in planting the best perennials, annuals and edibles in their gardens. We all want our plants to be have characteristics like hardiness, disease and pest resistance, low-maintenance, beauty, and being pollinator-friendly. There are many ways to find plants that have these characteristics. You can research plants on websites like the University of Minnesota Extension and others. You can also go to the Dakota County Master Gardener annual plant sale every May for a reliable selection of plants. But this article will talk about two organizations who provide information about award winning plants in our region. The Perennial Plant Association and the All-America Selections are professional organizations whose purpose is to evaluate perennials and annuals for excellence and provide that information to you, the consumer. 

Perennials

Perennial plants of the year have been named annually since 1990 by the Perennial Plant Association. The association is a non-profit organization made up of horticulture professionals from the United States and Canada. The professionals include growers, retailers, landscape designers, educators and others. 

Each summer, hundreds of these horticultural professionals vote for the Perennial Plant of the Year. The award is based on features such as: low-maintenance, pest and disease-resistance.

You can find the winners on the association’s website. Search the winners by USDA Hardiness Zone and level of sunlight needed. Here are some winners in Zone 4:

• 2026: Andropogon gerardii ‘Blackhawks,’ a big bluestem ornamental grass

• 2025: Pycnanthemum muticum, a clustered mountain mint

• 2024: Phlox paniculata ‘Jeana,’ a purple garden phlox

• 2023: Rudbeckia ‘American Gold Rush,’ a black-eyed susan

• 2022: Schizachyrium scoparium, Little Bluestem

 Look for these and other winners at your local garden centers.

Annuals

All-America Selections (AAS) is an independent, non-profit organization that tests new, never-before-sold varieties of annuals and edibles for home gardeners. The mission of AAS is to identify new garden varieties that have superior performance and to provide that information to consumers. AAS was the brainchild of W. Ray Hastings, president of the Southern Seedsmen’s Association of Atlanta, Georgia, way back in 1932. The concept was to encourage seed companies to set up trial grounds throughout the United States, where varieties would be grown and judged by skilled, impartial judges. Currently, the trials are conducted in about 80 sites throughout the United States and Canada. The judges are volunteer professional horticulturists. Judges are asked to evaluate plants on a set of characteristics, such as: earliness, disease-resistance, uniqueness, etc. 

There are three types of awards: the standard AAS National Winner for varieties that achieve superior garden performance compared to other like varieties on the market; the AAS Regional Winner for varieties that perform well in specific regions; and the AAS Gold Medal Award, given only occasionally for a breeding breakthrough.

AAS does not advertise its awards. Winners can be found in consumer magazines, newspaper articles, garden blogs, garden club bulletins and cooperative extension agents – and publications like the Garden Buzz. 

AAS also has nearly 200 display gardens in 55 locations around the country. In Minnesota, you can find AAS display gardens at the University of Minnesota, Falcon Heights, the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and at Central Lakes College in Staples, MN.  

You can access information about the winners on the AAS website. The website lists all of the historic winners and allows you to search the winners by category, year or region. For seed-buyers, the website helpfully provides the name of the breeder. Here are some winners from our region (Heartland) over the last six years:

• 2026 Tomato - BadaBing! F1 - Solanum lycopersicum – Breeder: Frogsleap Farm, distributed by A.P. Whaley Seed Company

• 2025  Basil - Piedmont - Ocimum basilicum – Breeder: Garden Genetics/Seeds by DesignP

• 2025  Petunia - Dekko Maxx Pink - Petunia hybrida - Breeder: Syngenta Flowers

• 2025  Nasturtium – Baby Gold – Tropaeolum minus - Breeder: Takii Europe

• 2025  Nasturtium -  Baby Red - Tropaeolum minus - Breeder: Takii Europe

• 2025  Nasturtium -  Baby Yellow - Tropaeolum minus - Breeder: Takii Europe

• 2025  Pepper – Pick-N-Pop Yellow – Capsicum annuum – Breeder: Semini Home Garden

• 2023  Tomato – Zenzei F1 - Solanum lycopersicum -  Breeder: Bayer/Serminis 

• 2022 Tomato – Pink Delicious - Solanum lycopersicum -  Breeder: Bayer/Serminis

Look for these plants at your local garden centers or search online for distributors from whom you can order seeds.

Garden with the best!

Picture credits: Ed Lyon, Midwest Groundcovers (1), All America Selections (2-3)