DOWNERS GROVE, IL – All-America Selections (AAS), the industry’s only independent, non-profit, national plant trialing program is pleased to announce twenty-three new horticulture experts as AAS Judges.
AAS now has seven different trial types and with a need for at least 24 judges for each trial, the number of trialing professionals has recently grown. In addition, as industry icons earn their well-deserved retirement, the next gen of trial experts are willingly stepping into their roles as an AAS Trial Judge.
The seven AAS trials are:
- Seed ornamentals, in-ground
- Seed ornamentals, container
- Non-seed ornamentals, in-ground
- Non-seed ornamentals, container
- Edibles, in-ground
- Edibles, container
- Perennials, in-ground
A huge thank you goes out to the following judges who have joined the AAS program as a volunteer judge in the past year:
- Abby Makowski, MSU Horticulture Gardens, East Lansing, Michigan
- Adam Thompson, Moss Greenhouses, Jerome, Idaho
- Amy Gonzalez, Syngenta Flowers, Gilroy, California
- Chad Miller, Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, Colorado
- Daniel Livingston, Moore Farms Botanical Garden, Lake City, South Carolina
- Dana Freeman, Nebraska Extension, Omaha, Nebraska
- Ella Van Kampen, West Central Research and Outreach Center, Morris, Minnesota
- Emily Rakela, Costa Farms, Miami, Florida
- Farren Johns Mathis, Territorial Seeds, Cottage Grove, OR
- James Langley, Lee College, Huntsville, Texas
- Jana Uy, Costa Layman, Trenton, South Carolina
- Jenna Monnin Bonnoront, Growfully, Fort Loramie, Ohio
- Jennifer Moro, Bayer, Woodland, California
- Jennifer Northam, Univ. of Tennessee Gardens, Knoxville, Tennessee
- Jesus Benitez, Ball Horticultural Company, West Chicago, Illinois
- Karen Daubman, Massachusetts Horticulture Society, Wellesley, Massachusetts
- Melissa Winchester, Mast Young Plants, Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Miya Sohoza, Harris Seeds, Rochester, New York
- Nadine Dam, William Dam Seeds, Dundas, Ontario
- Patrick Hogan, Ball Horticultural Company, West Chicago, Illinois
- Paul Stratton, City of Tulsa Parks & Rec, Tulsa, Oklahoma
- Rhonda Helsley, Moss Greenhouses, Jerome, Idaho
- Stephanie Buchwitz, PanAmerican Seed, Santa Paula, California
To find out more about All-America Selections, visit their website or contact Diane Blazek.
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All-America Selections is a non-profit organization founded in 1932 to test new ornamentals and edibles for home gardening. The organization utilizes a network of more than 80 judges in over 50 trial grounds across North America to rate entries against comparisons. Then an active publicity and communications program promotes the best performers that are declared AAS Winners. Now in its 86th year of conducting trials where only the best performers are declared AAS Winners, the organization has more than 900 individual varieties that have been “Tested Nationally & Proven Locally.”
