New Page 6

Medium Size Red Tomatoes

Anna Russian ($4.95) (VE) 65 days. This was the very first heirloom tomato I ever tasted.

Many years ago my mom brought me some perfect heart-shaped Anna Russians from her garden. I swooned. From 8 to 16 ounces, the fruits she brought had grown in beautiful clusters of 2 or 3.

Still in my top 5 favorites after all these years, Anna Russian is always among the first few plants I set out in my home garden every spring in a little Tomato Love ceremony.

Anna Russian seeds came from Brenda Hillenius of Oregon, who got the seeds from her grandfather, Kenneth Wilcox. Years earlier he had been given the original seeds from a Russian immigrant friend--a genuine example of the intriguing history these grand old tomatoes carry with them.

This plant has very delicate, wistful foliage as do many of the Russian varieties. Don't let that fool you! Anna is easy to grow and bear heavily during hot and cool weather. I wouldn't be without it.

Beiju is back for 2008! Beiju, 'Auspicious 88th Birthday' (Bay-ZHOO) ($6.25)(H) This tomato has caused quite a commotion among our customers who've tried it during the past couple of seasons. Seems as if they can't live without it now, so it's back for 2008.

The seeds are not available commercially so I've had to track them down and have finally succeeded in getting some from Japan for this season. The name of this exceedingly rare, prolific and very precious 'low-acid' tomato means Auspicious 88th Birthday. The hearty plants load up with huge harvests of 6 to 7 ounce red, round tomatoes with an elegant glimmer of green streaking at the shoulders. Very sweet, deeply luscious and juicy with a lingering fruity flavor, Beiju is a gem and said to be one of the keys to good health and staying young.

A special celebration for ones Auspicious 88th Birthday includes feasting on the finest foods--including delicious tomatoes--with the birthday celebrant wearing all red clothing from head to toe. On your Beiju, it is said that, at 88, it's a great time to feel joyful and childlike in celebration of reaching this fine old age.

We are honored to be the sole source in the US of this delightful plant. Since the seeds are rare and quite expensive, Beiju plants will be in rather limited quantity so please order early.

Bloody Butcher ($4.95) (EE) 58-60 days. This marvelous early ripening fruit has an unmatched, spectacular deep red hue--juicy with an intense lingering flavor. The 2-4 ounce round red 2 to 3" fruits have a rich silky texture and grow in great abundance on potato leafed vines. With its bountiful harvest month after month, the strong depth of flavor in Bloody Butcher has made it a favorite among tomato gourmands worldwide.

Carmello ($4.95) (E) 75 days. An extremely popular French tomato. This one has become a great favorite among my customers. A very reliable and bountiful producer of heavy, juicy, 8 oz. red fruits with immense flavor, this plant is among the most prolific ever bred, and produces so many fruits, you will be giving them away by the basketful. The Carmello plant in my garden proved to be disease resistant, and produced through late December with night temperatures about 42 degrees. The flavor alone puts it in my top 10. Wait 'til you see all the tomatoes on this plant; bring the big harvest basket. The photograph above, and at the bottom of the Growing Tips page, is of a Carmello fruit which grew into 'twins'-- 2 fruits connected to each other at the stem, and grown from one blossom.

Creole ($4.95) (E) 78 days. An immensely popular, full-flavored, renowned and revered variety grown for generations in the humid southern states and along the Gulf Coast, which also grows beautifully everywhere. Very disease resistant in humid weather, big, 8-10 oz., round, scrumptious juicy red tomato, VERY prolific yields, with a huge and faithful fan club.

Dona ($4.95) (E) 75 days. This delightful French heirloom was carefully bred for discriminating French market customers, for whom great flavor and superb quality are mandatory. The bright red fruit is perfectly round and lovely with a sweet, juicy and slightly tangy aftertaste. The heavily producing plants yield 6 ounce fruits and shows very good disease resistance.

Fireworks ($4.95) 50 days (EE) Ripe in only 50 to 55 days, this lovely bright red tomato, very large for a quick maturing variety, has splendid rich, sweet juicy flavor which runs deep for a super-early tomato. Fruits are 3", 6-9 oz., round, with a very distinctive slightly pointed tip, are heat resistant, cold tolerant and delicious.

Goose Creek ($6.95) 75-80 days. (HG) (E)

This delectable historical family heirloom is one of the rarest plants we offer. The flavor and color run deep in Goose Creek , a stunning, deeply red fruit, round or slightly flattened, sometimes lobed, with occasional gold streaks or speckling, faintly visible in the photo. Juicy, very sweet and intensely tomatoey as if injected with concentrated tomato flavor, it is ambrosial. I've rarely tasted a tomato to compare. Averaging 6-7 ounces, with very few seeds; it has now made my top 3 list.

This family treasure comes to us from edible landscape expert, Jimmy Williams, owner of Hayground Organic Gardening in California whose home garden we found to be an enchanting escape. Jimmy, born in 1942, and his Native Island Gullah-Geechee family are descendants of slaves brought in bondage from The Caribbean to the coastal islands of the Southern United States to grow rice for plantation owners.

The Gullah are still keepers of a fascinating culture of food, language and beloved traditions--a most extraordinary and delightful people.

The seeds of this sublime fruit have been passed down through generations since the 1800's when Jimmy's great-great grandmother, a young Caribbean slave, smuggled them with her aboard ship. When the ship docked at Charleston near Goose Creek, South Carolina, she had the treasured seeds with her, hidden deep in her skirt pocket and planted them that first spring. Jimmy's grandmother, Elouise Watson, shared this precious heirloom with him more than 45 years ago, assuring Goose Creek 's place in his family's garden for generations to come. Among its extraordinary qualities: A very high fruit yield and very few seeds.

Along with being very heat tolerant, it shows remarkable cold-tolerance along the cooler coastal areas where the fruits continue to set and ripen through November and December. It is a wonderful choice for growing in containers.

Matina ($4.95) (EE) 55 days. Ripening very early with a surprisingly high yield, this terrific fruit has a full-bodied hearty flavor normally found in the big beefsteak tomatoes. These 3-4 ounce bright red, perfectly round tomatoes have an intense depth of character making them a favorite of mine. Borne on a big sturdy potato-leafed plant in clusters of up to nine fruits, they produce an abundant harvest throughout the long growing season and are disease resistant. The nice solid fruits keep well, too.

Rutgers ($4.95) (D) (E) (SM) 75 days. Because of so many requests from folks who grew this wonderful tomato long ago, or remember it from their family gardens, we are offering Rutgers again. A smaller type plant, about 5 feet tall, produces deep dark fruits about 8 ounces, deepest red inside and out, abundant on the vine, juicy and delicious with terrific old-time tomato flavor, this classic disease resistant fruit, developed in 1922, is being rediscovered by gardeners everywhere. My grandma grew it in the 1950's when I was little. Here's to you, Grandma Stevens.

Sophie's Choice ($4.95) 50 days. (D) (VSM) (EE) From Canada, this succulent family heirloom is unique among the super-early producing plants. The slightly flattened round red fruits are borne in clusters of 3, quite large for an early bearer, with firm-when-ripe great flavored fruits from 6 to 8 oz. Sophie's Choice is a very small compact determinate plant.

This little shrub of a plant reaches about 18" tall and bears loads of delicious tomatoes. It tends to fall over with its heavy fruit burden, so be sure to give it some support. With its very high fruit production, tenacious growth habit and sweet refreshing taste, it's a fun and rewarding plant to grow. Very disease resistant, it is one tomato plant which requires more water than other varieties during early growth.

Stupice ($4.95) (EE) (Stoo-PEECH-kuh) 52 days. A great tomato! For me, this is the absolute very best tasting super-early cold-or-hot weather variety and among the first I plant each season. Big flavor, sweet and luscious. Stupice is a 3 to 4 oz. red round fruit, first to ripen and very high yielding. Produces quickly, heavily, reliably early and continuously throughout the season. Even when fruits are smaller as the season wanes, they maintain their marvelous flavor becoming even sweeter with colder weather. A garden staple.

Super Sioux ($4.95) (E) 72 days. Super Sioux is known as the outstanding hot weather tomato. Beautiful 4-6 oz. scarlet globes, huge production of juicy, sweet, meaty red fruit with a fabulous old-time earthy tomato taste. Superb for canning and fresh eating and very disease resistant.

New for 2008! Sweet Israeli ($4.95) 64 days. (SM) From Israel, this delightful, full flavored 2" plum tomato grows on a small determinate plant and produces some of the finest tomatoes I've ever tasted. Perfect for container growing or in the main garden, these bright red luscious fruits are a treat for the whole family. Growing in marvelous abundance, this brave little bush type plant produces lots of delicious fruits in all climates for fresh eating, cooking and canning. A delight!

Back: See available varieties