“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” Elbert Hubbard. “There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.” Linda Grayson. “The heart is an arrow. It demands aim to land true.” Leigh Bardugo. “Love is just a word until someone comes along and gives it meaning.” Paulo Coelho. “I see you everywhere, in the stars, in the river; to me you’re everything that exists; the reality of everything.” Virginia Woolf. “Life is the flower for which love is the honey.” Victor Hugo. “Where there is love there is life.” Charles Spurgeon. “Valentine’s Day is just another day to truly love like there is no tomorrow.” Roy A. Ngansop.

2025 All-America Selections that you will want to check out. They will be available soon in the market.

Celosia Flamma Pink (2025 AAS Ornamental Winner): Introducing another winning celosia from the Flamma series! This semi-dwarf pink variety boasts exceptional flower power, thanks to strong basal branching and abundant secondary heads. The result is a vibrant, long-lasting display of upright blooms that create a striking visual impact in the garden or in bouquets. Its vigorous field performance ensures it thrives even in hot and humid conditions, offering excellent display and shelf life that lasts well beyond expectations. Perfect for bedding or cutting, this easy-to-grow celosia delivers continuous color and beauty.

This celosia is an annual requiring full sun with normal water needs. Dead heading and staking are not necessary. Bushy, compact green foliage color reaching a height of 14-18 inches and blooms late spring until frost. Bloom color is pink and bloom color pattern is solid. Bloom size measures 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is container grown, pollinator friendly and tolerates heat and humidity. Can be used as a cut flower or bedding plant.

Vinca Sphere Polkadot (2025 AAS Flower Winner): This new vinca boasts a charming, compact and uniformly rounded habit, creating a sphere of flowers that bloom profusely all summer long. Its key benefits include excellent disease resistance, strong performance in hot dry conditions and superior resilience against heavy rain and storms; a crucial advantage in regions experiencing increasingly severe weather. This fast-flowering variety features small, sparkling blooms on glossy foliage, making it an ideal choice for walkways, borders, containers, and eco-friendly gardens.

Polkadot is an annual requiring full sun with dry to normal water needs. Dead heading and staking are not necessary. Foliage color is green with a compact growth habit. Plant height is 11 inches and blooms from late spring until frost. Bloom color is white with eye and measures 1.1 inches. It is container grown, pollinator friendly and tolerates heat. Garden spacing is 11-15 inches on center and can be used as hanging basket, ground cover or border plant. Flower power all summer.

Zinnia Crestar Mix (2025 AAS Ornamental Winner): Looking for a zinnia that offers it all? Meet Crestar Mix, a brand-new AAS Winner that combines the best of crested zinnia in one fantastic varietal mix. Crested zinnias, also known as scabiosa-flowered zinnias, are known for their distinctive semi-double blooms with a pronounced central disc. Crestar Mix brings together a vibrant palette of colors—including pink, orange, red, white, peach and yellow—in a single planting. For a stunning display and a continuous supply of cut flowers all summer long, plant Crestar Mix in masse and try succession planting. These beauties boast large, striking blooms on healthy, robust plants that thrive even in summer's heat and humidity.

This zinnia is an annual requiring full sun and normal water needs. Dead heading is recommended but staking is not required. Green foliage color with upright growth habit reaching upwards to 18-23 inches. Blooms summer to frost with mixed bloom color and bloom color pattern in varying shades. Bloom size is 3-4 inches. Container and pollinator friendly with garden spacing of 10 inches. Can be used as a cut flower. Harvest when the flowers are fully open and showing pollen. Harvest in the cool of the morning (after the dew has dried) or late evening. This minimizes wilting and helps the flowers retain their freshness.

This fact sheet is provided as an educational service of the National Garden Bureau (www.ngb.org) and AAS (All-America Selections) for Celosia Flamma Pink, Vinca Sphere Polkadot, and Zinnia Crestar Mix.

“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9. “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.” Psalm 29:2. “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers. Blessed is the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.” Psalm 1:1-4. “They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.” Psalm 22:5.

Eddie Seagle is a Sustainability Verifier, Golf Environment Organization (Scotland), Agronomist and Horticulturalist, CSI: Seagle (Consulting Services International) LLC, Professor Emeritus and Honorary Alumnus (Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College), Distinguished Professor for Teaching and Learning (University System of Georgia) and Short Term Missionary (Heritage Church, Moultrie). Direct inquiries to csi_seagle@yahoo.com.