New edible varieties for 2025
The Year of the Pea
National Garden Bureau (NGB) has named 2025 the Year of the Pea. The “Year of the” program selects crops specifically for the North American market that are easy to grow, genetically diverse and showcase advances in breeding.
Peas are a delicious, nutritious crop that has contributed to science, the planet and your palate for centuries. This protein-rich vegetable is native to the Mediterranean region and, when Europe was colonized, was introduced to the New World.
Peas give back to the planet by capturing nitrogen from the air and creating their own fertilizer, cutting down on inputs and boosting plants around or after them.
With varying sizes, colors and vine types, peas can be used as a row crop or trellised in a garden with vines to create a beautiful cascade for harvest throughout the season.
NGB has provided a fact sheet, along with flyers, handouts, signage, posters and more for free at ngb.org/year-of-the-pea to help garden centers and growers highlight these plants throughout the year.
Are your retail customers hungry for new edible plants for their gardens? Here are some notable new varieties breeders are offering for retail this year.
Tomato ‘WonderStar Red’
Heirloom-style beefsteaks with hybrid vigor. Determinate plants produce early-maturing, bright-red fruits with excellent flavor. Resistant to late blight and septoria leaf spot.
PanAmerican Seed
Blueberry ‘Bountiful Baby’
Blueberry ‘Bountiful Baby’ brings loads of fruit in a compact and attractive shrub. Dainty spring blooms become sweet berries. Zones 5 to 9.
Monrovia
Passion Fruit ‘Poppin’ Passion’
New from Bushel and Berry, this compact passion fruit can be grown in a container, requires zero chill hours, and overwinters well indoors. The tropical blooms support native pollinators.
Star Roses and Plants
Tomato ‘Prairie Fire’
Perfect for container gardening, these super-sweet 3-inch golden-striped tomatoes grow abundantly on early-producing, determinate 3-foot vines.
Renee’s Garden
Kitchen Minis ‘Basil Bonsai’
The first herb in the Kitchen Minis line of indoor vegetables, this fine-leaf Greek basil has smaller leaves. No chopping for recipes — just sprinkle the flavor.
Kitchen Minis
Broccoli ‘Purple Magic’
New AAS winner ‘Purple Magic’ is reportedly the first purple-stem, purple-headed broccoli in the world. Large, dome-shaped heads weigh in at about 1 pound each. Very high in anthocyanin (a plant-based chemical called a flavonoid) and nutritious. Plants grow well in all regions of the U.S. and are mature about 90 days from transplant.
Sakata Seed America
Tomato ‘Unicorn Pink’
Produces medium-sized cherry tomatoes with moderate vigor and heavy fruit set. Firm fruit resists cracking with excellent sweet flavor. Available in Pink (shown) and Red.
Burpee Home Gardens
Cherry Tomato ‘Partyball’
Heavy crops of sweet fruit with proven resistance to tomato mosaic virus strains 1 and 2 and built-in tolerance to late blight.
Syngenta
Squash Winter Acorn ‘Mashed Potatoes’
This versatile winter squash has stark white skin and creamy white flesh, making it suitable for “mashed potatoes.”
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