My Personal Favorites

A Few of Laurel's Favorites

People often ask, " Laurel, let's say you are about to be stranded on a deserted island, your canoe is taking on water, and you have to swim to shore. You have 1 minute to grab your swim fins, snorkel, some garden tools, books, your shades, a case of wine, your dog, and 10 tomato seed varieties from among the hundreds you always have in your pockets. Which ones would you choose?"

"How about 25?", says I.

My Top 20

'Stranded On A Deserted Island' Favorites

Known as "Laurel's Oh. My. God! Tomatoes"

Paul Robeson ($9.95
) 65-70 days.

This is my all-time favorite tomato and our top seller for 22 years.

It is a gorgeous, dark and dusky-hued fruit with intensely sweet earthy taste with a hint of tanginess, a luscious velvety smooth texture, beautiful skin, rich with juice and high production. You will love it. The seed was made available by Marina Danilenko, a Moscow seedswoman.

This luxurious tomato is named for Paul Robeson (1898-1976), the elegant, renowned and charismatic operatic singer, law school graduate, champion athlete, film star, stage actor and boundlessly brave champion of civil and personal rights throughout the world. This marvelous plant will give you its perfect 3" - 4" fruit in only 65 days from planting. Incredible; a symphony. I do believe this is the finest tomato in existence.

Jutland, in MY TOP 3!

Jutland ($9.95
) 70 days.   (Pronounced Jut-land or Yoot-lahn)

Along with Dirty Girl, Jutland is my new 'go to' variety for the best dang tomato for BLT's and any fresh eating. A perfect 3 to 5 ounce, thin-skinned, plum shaped, brilliant red tomato, some smooth, some with a pointed tip and the most sublime flavor we've found in a tomato this season. I keep saying " Where have you been all my life?"

It appears in several different shapes on the same plant -- some very elongated, some short and plump, and, as with many tomatoes of this shape, the foliage is rather wispy.

Sliced into 'coins' or halved lengthwise, it is my new favorite for salads, sandwiches and cooking. True story.

Juicy, sweet, tangy, delicious, thin, very tender skin and old-fashioned tomato flavor make Jutland a must-grow for the most dedicated and adventuresome heirloom tomato fans.

Can be used for sauce, yes. I'd recommend this one for fresh eating.

New for 2025!
Black Goose Creek ($9.95) 80 days

This big, heavy, delicious cross of Goose Creek and Black Krim was created by famed author, long-time market grower and agricultural guru Jimmy Williams whose family of enslaved people, including his great, great grandmother Elouise Watson, had hidden the original red Goose Creek tomato seeds in her skirt pocket on her journey from the Caribbean Islands to the The Carolinas many generations ago. This was in the mid 19th century around 1845 when she was transported to grow rice in the US. The boat docked at Charleston, near Goose Creek, South Carolina.

A truly marvelous tomato, the flavors of Black Goose Creek linger in your mouth as they morphs from tangy to sweet to passionately rich and fragrant -- a taste experience you won't forget. The tomatoes here in AJ's photograph were devoured pretty quickly, a heavenly experience. Didn't even stop to save seeds and had to wait for the next ripe ones...

In the early 2000's, Jimmy cross-pollinated the 2 varieties -- and after a few generations it stabilized -- creating this unforgettable black tomato for your garden. Big beefsteak fruits with deep dark red flesh, the flavor is out of this world.

Among the black tomatoes, Black Goose Creek stands out: Big, very heavy-in-the-hand, 8 to 14 ounces with extraordinary flavors. An adventuresome tomato. Spending a few hours talking, hanging out or gardening with Jimmy is an adventure in itself.

New for 2025! Huge, yummy and early ripening!

Council Bluffs ($9.95) 65 days.

One of my "Oh. My. God." varieties. One bite and "Oh. My. GOD!!"

Incredible flavor. I was stunned. And AJ was blown away when she took a bite. "Mom...Dude...oh my God...."

As you know she and I grow out many trial varieties every year to find the best for you.

Some are 'eh' or 'not great' or 'Nah', or 'it's okay' or 'not good enough for our customers' Or 'nothing special'. Once in a while "a spitter".

NOT THIS ONE!!!!

Council Bluffs is awesome! (A word I rarely use.) This fabulous old time variety from more the 100 years ago is quite rare and extraordinary.

It ripens into a full-flavored, richly sweet, thin skinned, ridiculously delicious fruit in only 65 days from planting out. Our Council Bluff tomatoes were ripe and ready for picking in only 62 days!

Growing to 4" wide and 3" tall, 5 to 15 ounces, these fruits get high marks from tomato growers worldwide.

This very-early ripening beefsteak tomato originated with the Dwayne Bushman family of Council Bluffs, Iowa. Yay Bushman Family!!

New for 2025!

Tuxedo Bear ($9.95) 78 days.

This astounding surprise offshoot of Black Bear grew out in our garden a few years ago with the gorgeous variegated foliage you see in the photograph: deep green with dazzling white creamy color splashes on the leaves.

AJ started calling it Tuxedo Bear to differentiate it from Black Bear.

We thought it was the same tomato, with just a different foliage type but Boy, were we wrong!

It's a completely different fruit! Tuxedo Bear is bigger, averaging 9 to 12 ounces and just gorgeous -- with the same rich sweet flavor as Black Bear and a perfect back hint of tang. One of the finest tomatoes I've ever had, and so beautiful!. Definitely an Oh.My.GOD!!' tomato.

Our Tomato Foster Mom, Barb Kraus, whom I call My Elf, grew out both Black Bear and what we then called 'Variegated Black Bear'. She was surprised and utterly thrilled to find they are completely different varieties. Both are delightfully delicious juicy tomatoes!

The Tuxedo Bear tomatoes in AJ's photograph are from Barb's garden in Rancho Palos Verdes. The foliage photos are property by Barb Kraus.

All rights reserved. 2025

Beauty King ($9.95
) 80 days

How often does something this gorgeous live up to its beauty with equally stunning flavor and character?

I'm disappointed when a beautiful tomato doesn't thrill me with flavor. I grow out many, many varieties each year to be sure your tomatoes have fabulous flavor. Sometimes the first bite is a heartbreaker... which we call 'a spitter'.

NOT THIS ONE!! Beauty King is probably the finest flavored red and yellow bi-color tomato of all time. A fabulous cross of Big Rainbow and Green Zebra.

Very sweet and meaty, regularly reaching a pound. Sometimes up to 20 ounces and high production to boot! You'll be harvest lots of Beauty King tomatoes within only 80 days of planting.

Another incredible Brad Gates cross. Brad continues to bring unbridled joy to the gardens of the world. YAY BRAD!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!

Druzba (DROOZ-Buh) ($9.95
) 78 days.

The Perfect Main-Crop Red Tomato

This is your perfect main-crop red, round tomato. A favorite for gift giving! Druzba is a Bulgarian word meaning friendship. It is the perfect gift for the gardener who has everything.

Very robust, highly intense tomato flavor in smooth, perfectly round, deep-red, blemish-free 7 to 10 oz. fruit with outstanding disease resistance.

Bright sparkling color, huge flavor, rich meaty texture. Reliably easy to grow, every Druzba tomato is a magical treasure.

Druzba is a very special favorite of mine which I grow every season in my personal stash. Anyone who tries it goes berserk with tomato love.

Perfect texture, firm but not hard. Thin skin, extraordinary flavor and very high production.

Rare and Delicious!

Thunder Mountain ($9.95
) 80 days

This big, stunning10 to 14 ounce beefsteak tomato was developed by Lee Goodwin of J & L Gardens.

As the colors developed, they reminded Lee of the sun setting through thunder clouds in the New Mexico sky.

With fruits ripening from deep gold to reddish-orange -- and all the other stormy sunset colors -- he called it Thunder Mountain.

The flavors are rich, sweet, bold and beautifully balanced, reflecting its marvelous parent lines of Cherokee Purple, Big Rainbow and Bosque Blue.

Not a huge plant, Thunder Mountain grows on a compact vine and produces excellent crops of 10-14 oz., big-shouldered, orange-red-gold tomatoes with deep stormy-ocean blue around the stem and faint yellow streaking here and there. Grows easily everywhere.

J & L Gardens is in New Mexico's Rio Grande Valley where they grow tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, apples and all kinds of specialty crops for restaurants and Farmers' Markets.



Momotaro Gold ($12.95) (H) 60 to 70 days

STOP THE PRESSES!! This is my new favorite tomato! A stunning summer surprise with scads of 6 to 8 ounce treasures.

A very reliable tomato friend told me how fabulous this tomato tasted. "Seriously, Laurel, you gotta grow Momotaro Gold!"

So I got seeds and grew out 5 plants in the summer. I watched them grow and ripen, fascinated as they transformed into deeper and deeper shades of gold.

Picked the first ripe one in early September with high hopes. Folks, I was blown away. Probably one of the top 10 finest flavored tomatoes... Of. My. Life.

Every fruit, perfection. Texture is meaty, silky, not soft or mushy, just perfection. I kept saying."Oh my god. Oh my god." At some point, this marvelous flavor got me to thinking, (hmmm), if Sun Gold was a big tomato, it would taste Just Like This.

And so many tomatoes! Growing on a medium sized plant, not a huge plant, they produced dozens of clusters of gorgeous fruits glimmering in the sun and are still going now, in October!

New for 2025!

Purple Zebra ($12.95) (H)

Purple Zebra is my hands-down most exciting discovery of 2024. Maybe ever.

I liken it to Summer Cider (see below) which completely changed my tomato life 25 years ago. Greatness is sometimes hard to define.

I can now call Purple Zebra my favorite tomato of all-time in the world ever ever ever, to the moon and back a million times plus one.

An artisan hybrid, Purple Zebra has the most perfect, uncontested incredible, passionately desirable flavor I've ever known in a tomato.

I watched my employees when they were watering or feeding the plant to make sure they didn't try to sneak one away... it was tomato madness!

There is no way to adequately describe it, though. Where to start. Sweet. Yes. Tangy, yes... perfectly. Tender, yes. Thin skinned, check.

High production, check. NO disease at all, check. Magic, Yes. Impossible, nope, it's real. Unbelievable? Not now. Otherwordly? Yup. That's the word

Apricot Brandywine ($9.95) 80 days.

These fabulous tomatoes are a perfect golden/apricot color -- not yellow -- and grow huge! Up 1½ pounds in clusters of 4 or 5 huge tomatoes on rugged potato-leafed plants.

Apricot Brandywine produces a lot more tomatoes than the other Brandywines, much more than I've ever seen on other Brandywine plants except Brandywine OTV and the taste is unforgettable. Just incredible.

One of my favorite qualities of Apricot Brandywine is that the stunning, meaty flesh inside is exactly the same color of the skin when you cut it open, or just take a giant chomp! WOW! Mind blowing.

This plant has strong thick sturdy stems. It really has to have stems like this to support all of the huge fruits! Be sure to give it a strong cage like Our TomatOH Holders, to help it stay up!

We think it originated from Great Britain some 30 years ago, the actual origin is unknown, but I'm researching it!

Aunt Ruby's German Green ($10.95) 75-78 days.

You're going to love this beautiful Tennessee tomato. Medium to large, sweet beefsteaks, bursting with a fragrant, complex, spicy-sweetness with a touch of tang.

A gorgeous green-when-ripe color with a delicate pink blush inside, this much sought after variety is a real treat to have in your garden, and is said to be the very best tasting green. Reaching up to one pound, Aunt Ruby's German Green grows in clusters of 2 or 3.

With its intricate, earthy, unforgettable flavor and chartreuse flesh this one will broaden your tomato horizons.

Top favorite of our friend and long-time customer Tom Wopat. Very adaptable, and easy to grow with good disease resistance. From Ruby Arnold of Greeneville, Tennessee who passed away in 1997.

IN MY TOP 5!

Green Giant ($9.95
) 60-70 days.

On a flavor scale of 1 to 100, Green Giant is a resounding 100 + Incredible. Unforgettable. The flavor can be described as rich, intoxicating and intense.

Occasionally a tomato comes along which deserves very special attention. This big, up to 2 lb., green when ripe tomato resoundingly stole the show in 4 different tomato tastings.

We had the immense pleasure of tasting it at TomatoFest in Carmel, California where it captured the hearts of tasters and garnered a great deal of attention. I have not been this impressed by a tomato since discovering Brown Derby in 2007.

It arose originally in the garden of Reinhard Kraft of Germany in 2000 when he planted 30 seeds called 'Green Giant' from a friend in Canada. 29 of them grew out regular leafed except for one which had big potato leafed foliage. Reinhard cultivated that one, selecting the best fruit for several seasons, and continued to save seeds. Yay, Reinhard.

NOTE: How to tell if a green tomato is ripe and not just an unripe fruit? Close your eyes and feel it; if it's soft, it's ripe.



Black Mamba ($9.95) 78 days

New to our list this season, Black Mamba is a big, bodacious, purple/black beefsteak tomato. Elaborate smoky flavor with touch of sassy tang make this one an irresistible delight for your tomato garden.

A natural 'surprise' cross of Lucky Cross with an unknown black variety-- from the size and flavor my guess is Carbon -- Black Mamba's flavor is enticing, rich, sweet and luscious. Your plants will produce big crops of stunning, irresistible tomatoes. Really meaty and full-flavored, this is also a fabulous fresh eating and sauce tomato.

Another treat from the garden of the late, beloved, old-timey tomato grower Millard Murdock.

Back for 2025!

Summer Cider ($10.95) 80 days

Many years ago, maybe 30 years, I heard tell of a legendary tomato, called Summer Cider Apricot, and went on a journey and found it -- at small farmer's market far away. I grew it out and lost my mind in love with this tomato's flavor, color and creamy silken texture. I must get a photograph of it sliced open. It's just dazzling!

If you are a tomato maniac, incurable, hopelessly addicted, and you want only the best which describes my customers perfectly, you would naturally have this one in your tomato garden.

'Ambrosia' was the word I used to describe the original Summer Cider Apricot, which I have called Summer Cider since 1995.

It was a top seller for 9 years and our customers adored it! One year I, the genius, didn't save seeds thinking 'no big deal' I have enough fresh seed to last and everything will be okay. Until...I lost that packet. 2000 seeds. Gone. Sniff...sob. Ack.

A couple years ago I took a chance and ordered some seeds online from several companies so I could grow it out and save seed. Alas many of them grew out regular leafed or mixed potato leafed and regular leafed in the same packet. The fruits from the regular leafed variety were smaller, odd-shaped and had maybe 50% of the flavor they should have. So disappointed. SEE NOTE

Genuine Summer Cider plants are potato leafed. Through a happy miracle, I have seeds of the genuine Summer Cider again! A friend had saved some seed I gave her years ago and heard about my heartbreak. My stock is replenished and I am SO happy -- although only about 160 seeds -- this variety will sell out really fast. Order early to reserve yours. We'll have a larger stock next season.

NOTE: This happens often now and it's very sad. Careless seed sellers, of which there are many, buy large quantities of a variety then pack them and sell them not really caring if they are genuine. In the 'old days', it was assumed and expected that seed sellers grew out plants to be sure a variety was true to type. Alas....

The World’s Darkest Tomato!

Black Beauty ($9.95) 85 days.

Beautiful to look at, the flavor of Black Beauty is deep, rich and complex. Combined in a tomato salad with red, orange and yellow tomatoes - a real mind-blower! Be sure and wait for true ripeness! Black beauty takes a while to ripen but is definitely worth the wait.

These photographs are from our home garden and have not been retouched. The fruits and the stems are deep dark indigo-black. Inside, blood red. The first photo is a not quite ripe fruit, the second and third photos show the color change indicating ripeness.

So dark that some tomatoes turn solid blue-black on the skin. Deep red flesh is among the best tasting of all tomatoes. Rich, smooth and savory with earthy tones.

A dark, meaty, very rich-fleshed tomato with extreme anthocyanin effect, the same antioxidant in blueberries and blackberries. The emerging little fruits are deep black from the time they are tiny until big and almost ripe, then you will see some color changes as you can see in the photographs.

Keeps well on the vine and stores very well, and the flavor improves with room-temperature storage.

Baker Creek's Dave Kaiser tasted it at the 2015 National Heirloom Exposition and proclaimed it as the BEST tomato he had ever eaten! Yay Dave!

Smaller plant with SunGold type tomatoes, but no cracking.

Wee Tang Shebang (a small, rather compact plant) ($9.95
) 55 - 60 days

Another dazzling heirloom from legendary tomato breeder Tom Wagner.

Although I don't know if Sun Gold is in its parent line, if you love Sun Gold, this is the plant for you!

I would describe Wee Tang Shebang as a petite plant, not technically from the Dwarf Tomato Project, but a dwarf plant nonetheless. Producing scads of gorgeous golden-orange tomatoes with all the dazzling flavor of Sun Gold, it's a small plant, about 2 to 3 ft tall and covered with tomatoes.

Ellie Pong of Bunny Hop Seeds sent me a sample of this one a couple of years ago. Adrienne loved the name and grew out some plants in our nursery. When it started producing I asked her, "Hey, what the heck is that?" She said, "Look at the label, Mom."

The flavor is SO good, I chose it over any other dwarf golden-yellow-orange cherry plants. A thousand times tastier. Crack resistant.

(Of the 30 in Adrienne's photograph, only one cracked! (YAY!)

You will love the high production in clusters of 8 to 10 fruits. So easy to grow, small yet indeterminate, grows and grows and grows for the whole season, starting early!

Disease resistant, produces right up until frost without losing any of its marvelous flavor.



Black Krim ($9.95
) 75 days

This delicious and much-sought-after Ukrainian variety is unique and unforgettable, originally from Crimea on the northern coast of the Black Sea in Ukraine.

A top seller for us for 25 years or more, Black Krim has a superb smoky sweetness with a delicate lingering touch of tang in a 4-6" slightly flattened, mahogany-colored fruit with lovely, deep green shoulders.

Setting fruit at higher temperatures, it is superb and very easy to grow.

Brandywine OTV ($9.95
) 72 days.

A truly marvelous stand-out member of the great family of Brandywines, this one arose in Craig LeHoullier's garden years ago. Big one-pound red fruits with orange shoulders and complex rich flavors. An outstanding tomato for your garden; it also sets fruit very well during high temperatures and bears all season.

A reliable producer, very disease resistant, and easy to grow; OTV stands for Off The Vine, which was a wonderful online tomato newsletter published by Carolyn Male and Craig LeHoullier. They describe this tomato as "the best strain of Brandywine set apart from others by its smooth, creamy, almost buttery texture, and harmonious sweet flavor."



Cherokee Purple ($9.95
) 75 days.

A legendary and beautiful tomato, at least 100 years old and said to be grown by the Cherokee People. 12 oz. deep dark dusky rose-purple, deep red inside, with sweet, rich and smoky, luscious flavor.

Cherokee Purple is a garden staple, in everyone's favorite list for a good reason-- disease resistant, reliable and easy to grow, and great one for your heirloom or heritage garden.

Seeds were sent to Craig Lehoullier by JD Green of Tennessee who got them from a neighbor whose family had grown them for more than 100 years.

In 1990 Craig named it Cherokee Purple.



Dirty Girl ($9.95
) Ripens in Only 60 days from planting out

I am crazy about the name of this incredibly delicious, high producing, open-pollinated version of Early Girl! It was de-hybridized by Joe Schirmer, owner of Dirty Girl Produce in Santa Cruz California. An organic grower, Joe spent the last 7 years growing out Early Girl into an open-pollinated version of Early Girl -- what we call a 'new' heirloom.

Dirty Girl produces in only 60 to 65 days, giving you huge harvests of perfect, yummy, 3 to 4 ounce salad size, red tomatoes with all the great qualities of Early Girl -- high production, early ripening and strong plants, with some added attractions for gardeners-- an far richer flavor and a bonus; you can save seeds!

Joe named it 'Dirty Girl' after his wife with whom he created Dirty Girl Farm. Yay Joe!

If you've got a wife or Mom, daughter, girlfriend or girl pal who spends a lot of time in the garden, this is the tomato for her. My customers love getting this one as a gift for their Dirty Girl Gardeners!

Surprise your Dirty Girl!



Marianna's Peace ($10.95
) 80 days

One of our top 3 sellers. The sugary nectar of this huge 5 inch tomato's creamy, dense, red flesh is intensely rich, with perfect sweet-acid balance and sublime, complex flavors reminiscent of the finest of the "old-fashioned" tomato flavors. This big, beautiful irresistible 1-2 lb. deep red fruit is the talk of the tomato world and has found its way into Top 10 favorite tomato lists of gourmands worldwide. It is perfection. Supply is limited, please order early.

It is said that Marianna's Peace is among the 3 finest tasting tomatoes in existence.

Marianna was from a family of farmers in Bohemia, Czechoslovakia. During World War II, in May of 1945 when she was 17, Russian soldiers came to her school and forced Marianna and all her schoolmates into a truck to be taken to Siberia. During the journey, she and a few others escaped by jumping from the moving truck, but Marianna was shot in the leg just as she crossed the Czech border. With the help of her friends, she was able to continue on to the town of Weiden, Bavaria. She lost all contact with her parents and brothers for the next ten years, but after a long and diligent search with the aid of The Red Cross, she finally found them in 1955.

Before he died, her father gave her a little bundle of the seeds.

Marianna married, and in 1957 moved to Washington State with her husband where they raised four children.

The legacy of these seeds reaches back to the early 1900's and year after year the tomatoes borne from this marvelous heirloom continue to be treasured for their outstanding taste and beauty. Incredibly sweet, creamy, with dense red flesh, rich and luscious, reminiscent of the finest of those "old-fashioned" tomato flavors, the memories of which are the stuff of dreams for all tomato lovers.

Tati's Wedding ($9.95
) 80 days

Tati is short for Tatiana. This big luscious beauty -- the most flavorful variety I've come across this season and my top pick for 2017, was discovered by my customer Dan Stein of New York as he drove through the Kazbek mountains in the Caucasus of Russia. He was there on a special day, his friend Tatiana's wedding, when he stopped at a roadside produce stand and discovered this fabulous tomato.

The farmer had not name it, so Dan called it Kazbegi Red. After hearing this beautiful story, I couldn't resist naming it for Tatiana, whose nickname is Tati.

These tomatoes are luscious, meaty and silky with big sweetness and just enough tang to make it the perfect all purpose tomato and one of the juiciest I've ever found.

So productive, you'll get dozens of delicious tomatoes in varying sizes and shapes on the same plant, from 5 oz. up to 16 oz. or more. This is one of the most delightful traits of the heirloom tomatoes.

The tomato in the photograph weighed 16 ounces and was grown this season by my customer and friend Barbara Kraus of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. After our Tati's Wedding plants were demolished by rampaging raccoons, Barb came to my rescue and grew out some plants in her garden.

Without Barb we would not have any photographs or seeds or plants of this incredible for you! Yay, Barb!

Wild Fred (Dwarf Plant) ($9.95)
Laurel's Favorite

Lots of big gorgeous purple/black tomatoes grow in abundance on a strong, stocky 3 to 4 ft. dwarf plant. Disease resistant and producing big crops of large yummy tomatoes in all kinds of weather, the flavor is outstanding.

Heavy in your hand, this juicy, beefsteak type fruits grow to 6 to 10 ounces with thin skin and the deep, smoky, juicy, aromatic flesh you find in Carbon which is one of its parent lines (along with New Big Dwarf).

This big, tasty variety was named by Craig LeHoullier, for his dad Wilfred after a memorable typo of Wilfred's name in a church bulletin.

A fabulous cross made in 2005 by Bruce Bradshaw in California.

For descriptions and photographs of all our tomato varieties, please click here:

Our Tomato Varieties

For detailed growing information and Laurel's favorite organic gardening products, click here:

Growing Tips