In September 2007 we attended my friend Gary Ibsen's TomatoFest in Carmel, California, had a fabulous time with Gary and his magical wife Dagma Lacey, tasting more than 400 tomato varieties along with a sublime barbecue feast, a bounty of fine wines, olive oils, a salsa showcase and more than 100 divine tomato dishes prepared by some of the great chefs of California. It was heavenly... truly a golden day.

 

We brought back seeds of some wonderful tomatoes including Vintage Wine, Blue Fruit, Gramma Climenhaga,  Sweet Israeli, Mirabell, Green Grape, Painted Ukrainian, New Big Dwarf, Cindy's West Virginia, Camp Joy, Florida Pink, Cherokee Chocolate, Chocolate Stripes, Purple Russian, Orange Strawberry, Green Grape, Mrs. Houseworth, Elfin, Kennington's Big Red, Gold Medal Yellow and many other new selections along with the old favorites.

 

 

 

New Varieties for 2008

 

 

New for 2008! Big Orange Stripe $4.95) (B) 82 days. This marvelous fruit has set off quite a commotion in the tomato world. A wonderful heirloom from the Carter family in Kentucky, Big Orange Stripe fruits are huge--up to 2 lbs. with delicate red striping outside and in. Delicious and sweet, one of the best orange beefsteaks available. With all the attention being garnered by the orange tomatoes and their health benefits, this one deserves a place in your garden.

 

New for 2008!   Blue Fruit ( $4.95) 76 days. Astonishing color and sublime flavor make this 2”- 3” round, purplish- gray, almost blue tomato a rare and wonderful surprise for your garden. Averaging about 8 ounces, with all the enticing flavor of the legendary black tomatoes, its unmatched color makes it a real delight. Growing on a potato-leafed plant, Blue Fruit is rich and smoky, easy to grow and very prolific.

 

New for 2008!    Camp Joy ($4.95)    80 days. 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.

 

 

New for 2008! Carbon ($4.95) 78 days. Carbon is a big hearty plant and produces a prolific harvest of gorgeous 10 to 14 oz, beautiful deep purple/brown tomatoes, many darker than than the photograph here, making carbon among the darkest of the black tomatoes with delicious, rich, complex flavor. Because of its high production and outstanding award-winning flavor--it placed first in a Cornell University tasting--it is in great demand in the tomato loving community and among market gardeners whose customers are in search of black tomatoes.

 

New for 2008!  Cherokee Chocolate ($4.95) 75 days. This gorgeous tomato is sweet, rich and luscious, with a very distinctive dark chocolate mahogany hue, and brownish-black shoulders. 12 ounces and plentiful on the vine; this  stunning beauty which arose as spontaneous 'rogue' tomato in Craig LeHoullier's garden several years ago.  Craig stabilized it and now this 4-inch beefsteak variety has developed a great following among celebrity chefs because of its exceptionally rich color and flavor.

 

New for 2008!  Chocolate Stripes (5.25) 78 days.     This big beautiful yummy 4" fruit was among the top 3 favorites at TomatoFest 2007.  A stunning mahogany with swirls of olive-green inside and out, and a flavor similar to Black Zebra that stands up to the best of the blacks.  Smokey, rich, earthy and sweet, with a silken texture, Chocolate Stripes is taking the tomato world by storm. Growing on a really big plant and standing up to cooler weather, it continues to produce well into fall.

 

New for 2008!  Cindy's West Virginia ($4.95) 85 to 90 days. From Wirt County, West Virginia, this big beautiful pinkish-red 4" beefsteak fruit is absolutely luscious. I tasted it for the first time in September at TomatoFest. Wow. Double wow.

The seeds of this fabulous fruit were sent to Gary Ibsen by conservationist and manager of the Ohio River Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Dean Rhine, of the Fish & Game Dept. in West Virginia.

Dean got the seeds from Cindy who works with him, who got the seeds from her dad, Charlie, who grew this tomato for many years. Charlie got the seeds from his neighbor who had planted them for years in Wirt County, WV. They were always the "very best tomato" in their gardens.

 

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.

 

New for 2008!  Florida Pink ($4.95) 85 days.   These huge, 2 to 3 lb fruits are a gorgeous light pink. Extremely juicy, sweet and crack free, Florida Pink out-produces most plants in our garden. With very few seeds, huge production and great flavor, it is a favorite for cooking and fresh eating. Setting fruit well in hot areas, this beautiful tomato will be a fine addition to your garden.

 

New for 2008!    Gold Medal Yellow ($4.95)  80 days. Look at this tomato! As delicious as it is beautiful, Gold Medal Yellow is sunshine yellow with a delicate orange glimmer here and there, brimming with juicy, sweet, refreshing flavors. Delicious, slightly fluted, and reaching 8 to 10 ounces, about 3" wide, it is a fantastic fruit. Marvelous!

 

New for 2008! Gramma Climenhaga (Klimen-hayguh)($4.95) 78 days. I am insanely in love with this tomato; it's been a huge favorite of mine for years. With a luminous orange hue and brilliant, citrusy sweet flavor, it's perfectly balanced and absolutely delicious.  Grown in Canada by T. McIntee's Gramma, it is easy to grow, a very reliable producer of 6 to10 ounce meaty fruits, about 3" across, round and smooth -- a truly memorable tomato. Give this gorgeous Gramma a try!

 

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. 

 

 

  Heart of Compassion ($4.95) (B)78 days. We are proud to be the only source for this fabulous tomato plant. Heart of Compassion, named by Dagma Lacey of TomatoFest, is a huge, 4 to 5" jade pink luscious and lovely heart shaped tomato with divine sweet flavors. Thin skinned and very meaty with very few seeds, it is truly a treasure.  You can see a 'live' Heart of Compassion fruit in the TomatoFest video at the top of this page in the 'Early Bird Ticket Sales' section.

 

 

 

 

New for 2008!   Ildi ($4.95) (Ch)     54 days. This is the earliest high-yielding grape tomato we offer. Sold in local Farmers Markets as Yellow Grape, Ildi grows in huge clusters of 75 bright yellow oval shaped fruits on a big bold 6 to 7 foot plant. The 1" cherries are very sweet and delicious, producing right up to frost. With it's extremely high yield, you will have lots of fruit to eat fresh right off the vine, toss into salads and share with family and friends.

 

 

New for 2008!  Italian Tree Tomato ($4.95)(B) 84 days. This huge prolific plant is called Italian Tree because it grows to 15 feet and produces enormous harvests of meaty 1 to 2 lb. gorgeous 4" to 5" red tomatoes with superior flavors and a perfect balance of sweetness and acidity. Great for fresh eating or canning, be sure to give it extra support as each plant can produce bushels of big tasty tomatoes. One of the best for Tomato Sandwiches. (This season we will be posting tomato sandwich recipes from new and returning customers.) Call Laurel for more information, 310-534 8611) One of the best tomatoes for market growers because of its excellent productivity, heartiness and old-fashioned tomatoey flavor.

 

 

 

 

New for 2008! Japanese Yellow Trifele (TRY-feluh) AKA Truffle Yellow ($5.25)     (SM) This lively  6 ounce cousin of the Japanese Black Trifele has a lovely refreshing citrusy-sweet flavor. Juicy and delicious with a huge production of fruit, this productive plant stands up to cooler weather, it's exactly the size and shape of a Bartlett pear and keeps well for several weeks after picking.  Not Japanese at all, but Russian, Yellow Trifele ripens from yellow to a glowing golden hue when fully ripe. Some fruits have pretty green patterning on their shoulders.

My seeds are from my friend Lisa., owner of Amishland Heirloom Seeds who has graciously let me use her photograph here. Lisa points out that this tomato looks a lot like a Shmoo. If you remember Al Capp's Shmoos, you will see the resemblance. Lisa has a Shmoo picture here: www.amishlandseeds.com 

(Yellow Trifele plants will be available in mid to late April.)

 

 

 

New for 2008!  Kennington's Big Red ($4.95) 80 days. This fabulous tasting, big, red, meaty 12 ounce family heirloom comes from seeds sent to Gary Ibsen by award winning dairy farmer and steward of the land, Hugh Kennington of Ontario, Oregon whose family has continued to save seeds for this marvelous tomato year after year as their family-favorite tomato. Fantastic!

 

 

New for 2008!    Mirabell ($4.95) 70 days. Once in while I taste a tomato with a flavor so elaborate and fine that I rave about it for weeks. Mirabell is one of these. I hadn't tasted it for several years and then popped a few into my mouth at TomatoFest this year. Wow. Ambrosial, just sublime. My notes on this variety are a series of 9 exclamation points. The tiny golden-yellow 3/8" fruits grow in bountiful clusters of 8 on a big rangy plant. Along with Camp Joy, Mirabell is my new favorite cherry tomato. Just as I did with Hawaiian Currant years ago, I went back to taste this one many times over.

 

 

New for 2008!    Mrs. Houseworth ($4.95)  80 days. After hearing glowing reports about this tomato from my many tomato buddies over the years, (“Laurel! Try it! Try it!”), I tried it at TomatoFest this year. They were absolutely right. It’s magnificent! I'm hooked. This 3 to 4 inch heart-shaped, luscious, big pink fruit is a prized old heirloom from the 1930's, originally from Mrs. Houseworth’ s garden in Centerville, Pennsylvania. Meaty and sweet, heavy in the hand with a perfect little accent of tanginess.

 

 

New for 2008!  New Big Dwarf ($4.95) (SM) 90 days. This delicious old time fruit from 1915 produces lots of big, yummy, one lb. deep pink tomatoes on little 2 to 3 ft. short bushy plants. A cross of many varieties including Ponderosa and Dwarf Champion, this little plant is perfect for growing in containers on the patio or right in your garden. (Developed by S.M. Isbell and Co.) Here are notes from a catalog of 1915, "Isbell's New Big Dwarf is so distinct and so meritorious that we are proud to offer it to tomato lovers of America and the world. We earnestly hope everyone who receives our catalogue will plant this grand new sort in 1915."  More than 90 years later, we think you will agree!

 

 

New for 2008!  New Yorker ($4.95) 62 days. (SM) (D) This compact, bush-like plant produces lots of round, bright red 4 to 6 ounce meaty, delicious, fruits which are perfect for salads, fresh eating and being a determinate variety, one of the best choices for canning. Setting fruit well in cold climates, New Yorker is perfect for short season Northeastern climates.

 

 

New for 2008! Orange Russian #117 ($4.95)  A gorgeous and delicious cross of Russian #117 and Georgia Streak, this fantastic tomato can't be beat for richness of flavor, with a heady tropical taste and fragrance and big perfectly balanced flavor. Weighing in at 1 to 2 lbs., meaty and heavy in the hand, its beguiling heart shape and marvelous flavor make it a great choice for your garden.

 

 

New for 2008!    Orange Strawberry  Orange Strawberry ($4.95) 80 days. With the orange varieties receiving so much attention because of their health benefits, I want to share with you one of my favorite orange tomatoes, Orange Strawberry. This amazing variety has been earning accolades from celebrity chefs and gourmands world wide and was recently displayed on Martha Stewart's show.

This outstanding, hearty ox-heart type variety produces beautiful, 3-inch, strawberry-shaped-- formed to a distinct tip,--brilliant orange fruits, inside and out. The gorgeous, meaty fruit has a sweet, rich, complex and elaborate flavor. Not to be missed; give it a place in your garden.

 

 

New for 2008!   Painted Ukrainian ($4.95) 78 days. This beautiful, deep pink heart shaped 3" fruit has lovely delicate vertical striping, as if lightly touched with golden streaks of color by a fine watercolor brush. The flavor is equally delightful. Rich, meaty, sweet and entrancing and heavy in the hand, it deserves a place of honor in your garden. Magnificent!

 

 

New for 2008! Purple Russian ($4.95)     75 days. A favorite of my son in law Niko, this gorgeous high-producing tomato produces masses of deliciously sweet, deep-purple 4 to 6 ounce fruits. The elongated fruits can be egg shaped or plum shaped and have a richness of flavor unsurpassed by any other plum types. They hold up very well and will keep for several days after picking. Perfect for fresh eating in salads or out-of-hand, great for cooking and canning, too!  Home gardeners and market growers love this one for its beauty, marvelous flavor, keeping ability, and perfect blemish-free skin.

 

 

New for 2008! Ramapo, The Real 'Jersey' Tomato($6.25) 80 days

"Even if you’re not from New Jersey, you’ve likely heard about the legendary taste of the Jersey Tomato. Many of us can close our eyes and remember holding a firm deep red tomato, still warm from the sun, with that fresh off the vine smell. The flesh is smooth and juicy and each tangy bite is full of luscious flavor. Is this just a memory or can you still find this tomato? This 8 ounce Jersey Tomato taste comes from a sweetness balanced by tart fruit acids that leave the sides of the mouth and tongue with a memory we strive to recapture every summer. It’s in our memory, and we know it when we get a real Jersey Tomato, but how can we describe it? ", quote from Rutgers Cooperative Extension Service.

 

 

New for 2008!    Roman Candle (4.95) 85 days. These sweet, smooth, banana-shaped tomatoes are 4" long and 2" wide with a lovely bright lemon color and fine meaty texture. Marvelous for fresh eating, cut up in salads or for a gorgeous and flavorful sauce, with it's fabulous color and grand flavor, it will be a real show-stopper in your garden. Along with Green Sausage and Opalka, you can create a stunning and highly edible display.

 

 

New for 2008! Sweet Pea ($4.95) (Ch) 62 days. This is the smallest and most endearing little tomato I've ever seen. Sweet Pea produces thousands of tiny ¼" deep red currant tomatoes with an elaborate, rich, old time tomatoey taste--complex and sweet. They grow on a big wispy plant in bountiful clusters like handfuls of rubies. I had seen these itty bitty fruits decorating chef's creations at culinary events and had eaten them in salads at foodie soirees, then, after tasting them again at TomatoFest I knew I must bring home the seeds and grow them for you.

 

 

New for 2008!  Tiger Paw ( $4.95) 77 days.   This extremely productive plant produces pale yellow lightly lobed fruits with a pink blush and distinctive tiger paw type marking on the skin along with a fruity, tropical, distinctively citrusy flavor. From Reinhart Kraft of Germany, this beautiful, scrumptious, thin-skinned tomato is a delight to behold and a great pleasure to eat!

 

 

New for 2008!  Vintage Wine ($5.25) 85 days. A gorgeous deep pink tomato with golden streaks, Vintage Wine is a stunning, pastel hued, 1 lb. tomato with elaborate, elegant, sweet delicious flavors. Growing on tall potato-leaf plants, this very prolific and exquisite tomato is for the discerning tomato lover. Producing loads of scrumptious fruit, Vintage Wine will be a spectacular addition to your garden. Another fine selection from Tom Wagner.

 

 

New for 2008 Yellow Submarine ($5.25) 70 days. (Ch) (E) Similar in appearance to Yellow Pear but with a deep, rich flavor and excellent texture, Yellow Submarine is replacing Yellow Pear for many gardeners who long for this beguiling shape and color yet with really big yummy tomatoey taste.  Now the cutest little tomato has great big flavor!

 

 

 

Four Colors Miniature Bell Peppers ($4.95 each) 60 to 75 days. These scrumptious little 2 x 1½" bell peppers are appearing in a combination of colors in better markets nationwide. Cute, crunchy, fresh and sweet and picked fresh right from your garden, the flavor and textures will be exponentially better than the ones you'll find on market shelves. This pepper also comes on a gorgeous chocolate color.  The all start green and ripen to their true colors. Great for containers, you can plant all 4 in one large pot.

 Miniature Chocolate Bell $4.95) It ripens to this color.

 Green Miniature Bell which ripens Red (4.95)

 Red Miniature Bell Pepper ($4.95) Order the green one.  It ripens to red.

 Yellow Miniature Bell (4.95)

 

 

 

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