Small Fruited Plants

These plants produce fruits from ½" to 2". These little fruits can be red, black, orange, pink, purple, green, yellow, ivory, white or bicolor and in varying shapes: round, pear, grape, ping pong, pea-sized and plum-shaped.

Amy's Sugar Gem ($5.25) 65 days. This huge, sprawling plant produces heavy clusters of golf ball sized, incredibly delicious, deep red ambrosial fruit with tiny golden jewel-like sparkles within the red skin. Very sweet! It was one of my absolute favorite tomatoes at Tomatofest in September--just knocked me out. Candy-on-the-vine, not to be missed.

Developed by Jeff McCormack, it is a cross of Red Cherry and Tappy's Finest. Named for Amy Boor Hereford whose Grandma Tappy introduced Jeff to heirloom tomatoes more than 20 years ago.

Black Cherry ($4.95) (Ch) (VE) 65 days. A perfectly round cherry tomato with classic black tomato flavor, sweet, yet rich, smoky and complex. Fruit picks easily from the stem and is produced in abundance on vigorous, tall plants. These cherries are irresistibly delicious: look like a black cherry, taste like a sweet cherry-- a unique addition to the color and flavor spectrum of cherry tomatoes for your garden, along with , Sungold, Green Grape, Snow White and Reisentraube, it makes an arresting display for any table. Just outstanding.

New for 2008! Camp Joy ($4.95) This delightful 1” prolific cherry tomato has big-time elaborate tomato flavor. Along with excellent disease resistance, it produces an abundance of luscious gems in your garden all season. Perfect for salads and snacking; Camp Joy is one of Gary Ibsen’s favorite cherry tomatoes and one of my favorites from our 2007 TomatoFest tasting experience. I give it 5 stars out of 5.

Cerise Orange ($4.95) 70 days. (E) (Ch) Cerise Orange is rapidly becoming a favored cherry tomato among tomato lovers and especially chefs worldwide, its name is French for orange cherry. From Norbert Parreira of Helliner, France, Cerise Orange produces a huge harvest of tiny, luscious, ½" sunny orange cherries with a delicate subtle striping and flavor just bursting with gratifying deliciousness. Along with Hawaiian Currant, Bianca, Gold Currant and Peacevine, They are being used by chefs worldwide to create a spectacular edible miniature tomato display for restaurants and special events.

Ceylon ($4.95) 70 days. (E) This unique, multi-ribbed, little bitty mini-beefsteak shaped tomato is deep red with orange shoulders and only about 1" across. This very unusual ruffled fruit is amazingly prolific and quite a show stopper in your garden. The bright zippy flavor is addictive and the fruit is cute as can be. Very cold tolerant and heat tolerant, it is an all-around winner in all climates.

Crazy ($4.95) (EE) (Ch) 55 days. This plant produces so early and so well in all climates--it's just crazy. It grows tall, strong vines bearing bountiful clusters of six 1", round, red cherry tomatoes in only 55 days from planting out. Sweet, prolific, with a wonderful tangy-sweet balance; Crazy just keeps producing through cold and hot weather.

New for 2008! Elfin (Grape) ($4.95) 60 days. (EE) (SM) Elfin is a marvelous ¾” grape tomato borne on a small bushy plant which just loads up with sweet, bright red delicious fruits which can be plum-shaped or pear-shaped on the same plant. This small plant is just great for containers or right in your garden. Shaped like the original grape tomato, the fruits are superbly flavorful with a nice crisp pop when you bite into them.

Galinas ($4.95) (Ch) (E) 68 days. This 1" yellow cherry tomato matures in only 65-70 days. From Russia with lovely color and intricate sweet flavor, it is a bountiful producer in cool and hot weather and continues to set fruit right up until frost. The fruit matures from green to ivory to yellow finally ripening into deep golden yellow, its beautiful fruits borne in long clusters on a hearty potato leafed plant. Galinas has a depth of flavor normally found in larger tomatoes and has become a favorite in tomato gardens worldwide.

Gardener's Delight (AKA Sugar Lump)($4.95) (VE) (SM) (Ch) 65 days. You'll get an amazingly heavy production of precious sparkling-red 1" cherry tomatoes, which are loaded with sugary sweet tomato flavor. A special treat for tomato fans of all ages for eating right from the vine or in salads if they ever make it into the house. Gardener's Delight is also called 'Sugar Lump' for a very good reason.

Gold Currant ($4.95) (Ch) (E) 76 days. Gold Currant tomatoes are tiny golden garden candies. These delightful miniature ½" golden cherries have a delightfully sweet and snappy flavor with perfect acid balance. Great for dressing up a salad--or any dish--or just for snackin'. With Hawaiian Currant, Mini Charm and Cerise Orange, they make a spectacular display if the precious morsels ever make it from the garden into your kitchen. .

Golden Grape ($4.95) 78 days. Super-sweet, with a grape-like pop of ambrosial golden nectar when you bit into them. This little beauty grows in clusters of 10 to 15 sweet 1½" golden fruits. Ahhh. When the plant first blooms it becomes covered with thousands of beautiful blossoms--a stunning sight.

Golden Grape is another of the many marvelous Russian varieties--as a bonus they keep extremely well after picking, but because they are so luscious and irresistible, they won't all make it into the house. For the ones that do, they look stunning served alongside Grape Tomato and Porter's Dark Cherry for a show-stopping red, pink and gold display.

Grape Tomato ($4.95) (EE) (Ch) 55 days (H) This vigorous adaptable plant produces long grape-like clusters of very sweet, richly flavored, elongated cherry tomatoes, about 1½" long, popularly sold in pints at the supermarket. Now you can grow them in your home garden, in any climate and, rather then being picked green as are supermarket Grape tomatoes, the taste will be far sweeter and richer. When homegrown and ripening before your eyes, the flavor is exponentially finer than those on market shelves; you won't believe the difference.

Back for 2008! Green Grape ($5.25) 60 days. These 1" by 1 ½" ripe fruits are yellow-green with an amber blush on the blossom end, and lovely translucent pale-green on the inside growing on a small yet very prolific plant. After tasting it again at TomatoFest this year I decided to include it on the list for 2008. You will love it.

This compact plant was developed by Tom Wagner who crossed Yellow Pear with Evergreen. Its fruit has become wildly popular in restaurants and markets because of its unique and very elaborate flavor, a certain tanginess balanced with just the perfect touch of sweetness, stunning beauty and marvelous flavor--Green Grape really stands out as great choice for the discerning tomato maniac.

Hawaiian Currant ($4.95) (Ch) 80 days. This magnificent miniature morsel of a tomato amazed me and the other tasters at TomatoFest in September of 2003. Festival guests were going back for more, causing a traffic jam in the joyous meandering line of tomato fans. It grows in abundant grape-like clusters, each cluster holding onto its little red pea-sized fruits, until all are perfectly ripe. Be sure to pick the entire cluster as you would with grapes, rather than trying to get these teeny little guys off one at a time.

The flavor of Hawaiian Currant is unbelievably deep, rich, sweet, and lingering on the palette, a tiny terrific dream of a tomato.

Isis Candy ($4.95) (Ch) (VE) 60 days. These precious little 1½" morsels of red and gold garden candy have a dazzling starburst pattern on the blossom end when ripe. Sweet and fruity, Isis Candy has become a top 10 winner at tomato tastings, rivaling Sun Gold's flavor as a best-of-show cherry. Crack-resistant, a spectacular top seller.

Mini Charm ($5.25) (E) 70 days. From Mississippi, this very rare little tomato really charmed me at Carmel TomatoFest in 2005. Mini Charm is a marble sized, deep red, intensely sweet and passionately flavored miniature morsel of a fruit which bewitched me and my tasting companions.

Growing in clusters of 8 to 10 fruits on a big strong plant, Mini Charm is very prolific, great for containers, averaging a

pound and half per picking--about 75 fruits to the pound--and ripening in only 70 days from plant-out; it is also very disease resistant. Our Top pick for 2006.

Peacevine Cherry ($5.25) 50 days. The tiny tomato with the gigantic taste. Developed from Sweet 100 by Alan Kapular of Oregon, the little Peacevine currant type tomatoes grow in clusters of 18 to 20 fruits on small shrub-like 2 to 3 foot plants and ripen in only 50 days from plant out. When ripe, these marble-sized tomatoes can range from deep dark red to orange and yellow. The elaborate sparkling flavor of Peacevine literally changes from rich and sweet to tart and tangy and back again as you munch them--the Everlasting Gobstopper of tomatoes.

The Peacevine name was chosen because of the high amino acid content which has a calming effect on the body. This indeterminate variety had the highest vitamin C content in a cherry tomato among 30 varieties analyzed by Rutgers University.

Red Robin ($4.95) (VSM) 52 days. This tiny 10"-12" tall plant produces masses of 1" sweet, delicious cherry tomatoes. A dwarf heirloom variety, Red Robin is perfect for patio, window box and hanging containers. I took this photograph at sunset; the golden glow is the setting sun shining on the bright red fruits.

Riesentraube ($4.95) (Ch) 80 days. Long grown in Europe, Riesentraube was actually available in Philadelphia in the mid-1800's. As well-loved heirloom expert Carolyn Male says, "If there is one tomato that absolutely must be grown by heirloom aficionados, Riesentraube is it. The stalks alone create 200 to 300 blossoms..."

Meaning 'giant bunch of grapes' in German, this plant produces astonishing long clusters of 30 to 40 little one ounce deep red fruits with a distinctly pointed tip and superb taste, normally found in beefsteak types. Each ripe cluster looks exactly like a giant bunch of bright red grapes. Flavor is so rich, it is used to make tomato wine. Perfect for a table display if the fruits are protected from wandering tomato fiends.

Snow White ($4.95) 70 days. (E) A gourmet's delight. I can't say enough about this exquisite white cherry tomato which ripens from white to ivory to palest yellow with a bright, rich and sweet juicy flavor. Very prolific, easy to grow, pretty as starlight and a top seller.

Sun Gold ($4.95) (EE) (H) 55 days. This is the one of the best cherry tomatoes I've ever tasted, rivaling Isis Candy, and ready to pick in only 55-60 days. It has the big, rich flavor of a full-size tomato, in a beautiful little deep-golden fruit growing in bountiful clusters on a huge plant. Sweet, rich, so beautiful...just left of center in top photo. Most of them won't make it into your house from the garden. If you send someone to pick them for you, keep your binoculars trained upon the picker.

Sun Sugar ($4.95) (H) (Ch) (EE) 50 to 60 days. Virtually identical in appearance to Sun Gold, I have used the some photograph to illustrate Sun Sugar until I take its picture, too.

This delightful new golden-orange cherry tomato has fine rich flavor and superbly high production, very sweet and fruity, borne in long gorgeous clusters of 20-30 tomatoes. With big rich flavor, Sun Sugar, although thin-skinned, is crack resistant, and shows excellent disease resistance. Rapidly becoming a new favorite, this surprising tomato is a rival of Sun Gold in many gardens. Just a delightful new variety which stands up to hot or cold weather.

Sweet Baby Girl $4.95) (H) (SM) (Ch) (VE) 60 days. This vigorous little hybrid plant from Holland has long clusters of sweet, flavorful dark red 1 oz. cherry tomatoes, producing abundantly on small, compact yet indeterminate plants. Its easy-to-pick fruit is produced all season long.

Sweet Baby Girl's long shelf-life, marvelous taste and disease resistance have made it a new favorite for fitting into smaller gardens and producing bountiful bunches of fruit right up until first frost in containers and in the garden. Kids of all ages love it. Right after shooting this photograph of some of the 150 we picked on February 8th, my employees and I ate the fruits. Every single one.

Yellow Pear ($4.95) (HG) (Ch) (E) 75 days. Yellow Pear is back by popular demand. These precious little pear-shaped tomatoes are 2 inches long and a beautiful bright, pure, clear yellow. They are very sweet and delicately flavored. These very prolific fruits make a gorgeous and delectable display on your table in a bowl or basket -- if they make it into the house. The plant gets quite tall, and bears incredibly bountiful harvests all season. This is often called the prettiest tomato of all, and favorite of children who are thrilled to pick a huge basketful of tomatoes in only a few minutes, and proudly bring them to you.

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