Never Before Seen Flowers & Vegetables

Part of what makes my work fun is getting to be the first. In this case the first to know, grow and show these brand new, never been grown before varieties of flowers and vegetables. Which is 100% more exciting when I was the first to know, grow and show a plantar's wart.

Getting free stuff never gets old. I know this for two reasons. 1. People sometimes send me things and it's always exciting no matter what it is so I speak from experience and 2. I used to work as a television host & after her interview Joan Rivers walked out the door carrying a flower arrangement from the set.

Technically it was her arrangement since it was there to make the set look nice during her interview. Joan Rivers could afford her own flower arrangement - but as she said, after decades in the business, free stuff was still fun.

She knew. Free stuff, no matter what, is fun.

Every year I'm surprised by a package from All America Selections®. I say surprised, because every year they send me seeds, yet every year when they arrive I'm as surprised and delighted as if someone sent me a Joan Rivers level flower arrangement.

I mentioned that these are never before grown varieties, but truthfully, they HAVE been grown by a committee of AAS growers across Canada and the U.S. That's how they are judged and selected.

A bunch of impartial growers are given a whack of seeds to grow. Any varieties that are OUTSTANDING, win the designation of being an All-America Selection. You can learn exactly how the AAS committee works in this post. You can credit them for bringing Wave Petunias to the world's attention.

All of these varieties below (along with a whole whack of varieties that didn't win) were grown last year and given the award of being All America Selections.

New AAS varieties

FLOWERS

VEGETABLES

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To learn more about what makes these varieties so special you can read about them all here on the AAS website. The Kabocha squash for example is very sweet, with great texture and weigh in at only 1-2 pounds so it's perfect for single or couple servings.

And the sunflowers grow multiple flowers right at the top of the stem resulting in a perfect market bouquet on every plant.

I've already planted some of the Bauer lettuce in my Aerogarden to replace the old lettuce seed I tried 2 weeks ago - which didn't germinate.

NOTE: Of all the seeds I save, lettuce is really the only one that noticeably and quickly declines in terms of germination.

If you aren't familiar with the Aerogarden you can see how I grew tomatoes in the countertop device here.

This is the Aerogarden I use, The Harvest, which has 6 holes for growing. But since I bought mine all KINDS of small, countertop hydroponic growing devices have come on the market, most of them more affordable than the Aerogarden.

Having said that, my Aerogarden works perfectly and has never had any problems so even if you pay their high end price, at least you know it's a good product.

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Now that you feel accomplished and FULL of new information, feel free to relax with a puzzle.

Today I bring you two versions of the puzzle: the easy & the hard.

Although if I'm being perfectly honest, the hard one was actually the version I did - Photoshopping the image. So a big round of applause for me. Here - I'll do it.

👏👏👏 YAY ME 👏👏👏

Thank you. That's very kind.

THE 36 PIECE PUZZLE

The easy one. Because you love your life and want to get back to it as quickly as possible.

THE 100 PIECE PUZZLE

The hard one. Because you need at least another 30 minutes of avoiding life.

Have a good weekend,