Fleuroselect announces its 2024 Gold Medal winners

Fleuroselect is proud to present the 2024 Gold Medal winners. Each one of these breeding breakthroughs obtained an outstanding score on innovation, beauty and garden performance, convincing the organisation’s panel of expert judges to award the coveted Gold Medal.

Gazania rigens F1 ‘Zany Sunny-Side Up’

Breeder: Benary

Gazania ‘Zany Sunny-Side Up’ features two-toned flowers. Its golden orange petals blending into light yellow tips are unique. The plants of this new variety are consistent in growth and produce numerous large, colour-stable flowers that even open earlier and longer on cloudy days. ‘Zany Sunny-Side Up’ not only looks wonderful as a single pot plant or combined in containers on the patio but also shines in low bedding and even as landscape element in large plantings.

‘Zany Sunny-Side Up’ reaches sales maturity in the same short flowering window as the other varieties in the Zany series, and is just as suitable for cultivation in pots and packs. For growers, this means the option of a space-saving production cycle with uniform cultivation processes and coordinated sales of each variety.

The seeds are coated with BeGreen, meaning that no chemicals or microplastics were used. ‘Zany Sunny-Side Up’ is extremely heat-tolerant and puts on its best display in full-sun positions. At the same time, the flowers retain their attractive colour markings and the plants even survive dry spells unscathed.

Helianthus annuus ‘Desire Red’

Breeder: Burpee

Sunflower ‘Desire Red’ is a sensational dwarf Helianthus variety featuring innovative, unique russet flowers. The deep red colour makes it just perfect for the late summer range. This high performer is an early, profusely flowering variety—new blooms form continuously on its multiple branches well into autumn, and blend wonderfully with its dark green foliage. ‘Desire Red’ can be marketed as an attractive seed packet product, as plug or flowering pot and container plant.

‘Desire Red’ is suitable for planting or sowing in both beds and borders as well as in larger patio containers. This winner can be cultivated very successfully as a high-quality pot plant, especially in 3-liter containers, but is also suitable for production in smaller pots.

Its long sales season from May to August make it an ideal product for impulse purchases in garden centres and retail outlets. ‘Desire Red’ enhances the compact sunflower range by adding a new colour dimension that brings a warm, summery touch to both gardens and patios alike. What’s more, pollinators just love the deep dark centre of this sunflower.

Lycopersicon esculentum ‘Tiny Temptations F1 Orange’

Breeder: Prudac111

Solanum lycopersicum Avalanche Red, Yellow and Orange

The new cherry tomato Tiny Temptations F1 Orange stands out not only for its bright orange fruits but also for its wonderful flavour. The ultra-sweet cherry fruits of this variety are a real breeding breakthrough in trailing tomatoes. The Fleuroselect jury praised the delicious taste and excellent plant habit with multiple branches bearing a constant supply of new fruits. The bushy plants with their small, sturdy green leaves are highly tolerant to Phytophthora, not susceptible to mildew and therefore easy to grow. In addition, the abundant flowers are a magnet for bees.

Tiny Temptations F1 Orange is the ideal snack tomato for packet seeds, young plants or finished containers/pot plants with green fruits. In containers, it can be produced without pinching or the use of growth regulators. Its outstanding fruit quality is also retained on the sales floor.

The countless snack fruits stay on the plant for a long time and do not drop easily or burst. This attractive, robust and highly productive tomato plant for container or bedding use will appeal to consumers looking for a decorative variety that produces an abundance of highly flavoursome cherry tomatoes.