Below are the photos and descriptions taken from Laurel's Heirloom Tomato Plants from whom I purchased my plants. I'll add my own photographs when my plants start producing, but I'm not sure I'll be able to compete with Laurel's descriptions.
Ananas Noir aka Black Pineapple (80 days)We have been growing Ananas Noir as a special order for a very discriminating local tomato maniac. From Belgian grower Pascal Moreau, Ananas Noir is French for Black Pineapple. This big, unruly sprawling plant will give you a heavy crop of round, dark-purple 1 to 1½ lb. tomatoes with enticing green shoulders. The interior color is a prism of deep purple, pink, chartreuse and red hues. Loaded with full-bodied flavors, its smoky sweetness gives way to a surprising tang bursting in your mouth. Ananas Noir is a magical combination of fragrant tropical sugar and sassy enticement.Does well in fairly high heat and cool climates.
Anna Russian (65 days)This was the very first heirloom tomato I ever tasted and one of the finest of the oxheart tomatoes. The 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 bears heavily during hot and cool weather.
Years ago my mom brought me some perfect heart-shaped Anna Russians from her garden. She had gotten the seeds from a friend. I tasted; I swooned. From 8 to 12 ounces, the fruits she brought had grown in beautiful clusters of 2 or 3--I wouldn't be without it.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. Its perfect heart shape in colors ranging from pink to red make it very special indeed.
Anna Russian seeds came to Craig Lehoullier 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. Very early ripening.
Black Plum (82 days)This marvelous plant offers a very heavy production of rich, sweet, fruity, elongated, mahogany plum-shaped 3" fruits that fall into your hands by the dozens as you pick them. This one is outstanding eaten fresh, or sliced in a salad, with a rich smoky sweetness and a delicate touch of tartness to its creamy flesh, it makes a fabulous and perfectly balanced sauce or paste and is becoming a great favorite for canning. I like it fresh off the vine for straight-up garden snackin'. First place winner at the TomatoMania tasting of 2002. Does well in foggy/coastal climates as well as full sun. Early ripening. Does well in containers. A paste/sauce tomato.
Brown Berry aka Chocolate Cherry (72 days)The first brown cherry tomato, Brown Berry yields an exceptionally large crop of chocolate colored 1" cherry tomatoes. Semi-sweet, elaborate flavors finish with a fine hint of tang just over its fruity sweetness. Wonderfully juicy and a great snacking tomato! Adds another layer of color and flavor to your cherry tomato presentation.
Chocolate Amazon (80 days)This exceedingly rare, beautiful and incredibly delicious variety is the first tomato that I can say rivals my all-time favorite, Paul Robeson. Everyone who tastes it goes mad with tomato love and says it is the best tasting tomato they have ever tried, bar none. The flavor of this deep chocolate-brown tomato, as described by Lisa of Amishland Heirloom Seeds, " a distinctive, winey, smoky, rich taste and fabulous color." Lisa was the first to offer seeds of Chocolate Amazon which were sent to her by her Ukrainian friend, Sergey. Double the size of most other black tomatoes, reaching 1 lb. or more, extremely prolific and pumping out sweet, luscious, juicy tomatoes right into the cooler weather, Chocolate Amazon is in our top three discoveries for your 2009 garden Lisa's beautiful photographs are used here with her kind permission.
Goose Creek (75-80 days)This delectable historical family heirloom is one of the rarest plants we offer and our top seller. 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 my dear friend and edible landscape expert, Jimmy Williams, owner of Hayground Organic Gardening in whose home garden is an enchanting escape. Jimmy 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. Goose Creek has two distinctly different and superb flavors during two phases of its growth: when partially ripe and still showing some light green at the shoulders it has a brisk citrusy taste balanced with a fine, lingering touch of sweetness, and again at full red ripeness when it develops an intensely rich, earthy sweet flavor and luxurious, silken texture.
Very prolific, this exquisite variety has been featured recently in Fine Cooking Magazine, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and Visiting with Huell Howser on PBS. This season it will be featured in Sunset Magazine, Mother Earth News, Weekend Magazine and The Victory Garden on PBS Television. Now available to the home gardener and online exclusively from Laurel's; it is a rare and exquisite selection for your table and your historical garden. A perfect gift for the tomato lover on your list. Can be grown in containers. Tolerates high heat and cold weather. Early ripening.
Opalka (70 days)This wonderful heirloom originated in Poland. To me, and many other tomato lovers; it's absolutely the finest tasting paste tomato, with 5-inch long, thick red fruit, shaped like little red bananas.The foliage is wispy but the plant is very vigorous and prolific, often the tallest plant in the garden. Very meaty, virtually seedless and loaded with exquisite, refreshing, sweet flavors, marvelous for sauce and fresh eating. Yum. Despite the plant's large size, it's also done very well for me in 20 gallon containers.Does well in containers. Tolerates cold weather. Early ripening. Paste/sauce tomato.
Paul Robeson (65-70 days)
This is my all-time favorite tomato and our top seller. 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. 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. Does well in hot weather and cold weather. Very early ripening. Can be grown in containers.
Sweet Orange Roma(76 days)For all you folks who are entreating me to include a yellow-orange roma tomato, here it is. This 3" x 1½" fruit grows in prolific quantities and produces so bravely! Takes the heat like a champ and continues late into the year, undeterred by cooler weather. Sweet and lovely, great tasting, gorgeous tomatoes are perfect for fresh eating and cooking.
Valhalla (85-90 days)This rare and gorgeous deep pink and yellow zebra-striped fruit arose a few years ago in the garden of Krystal Elser of Elser's Country farm. Descended from a pure silver tomato with darker silver streaks found in a patch of Black Zebras, its stunning pearlescent hues give way to elaborate flavors with sweet citrusy notes and a background of melon. Marvelous! Its sister fruit, Blood Gulch, is deep reddish-purple with green streaking and is also new for 2010. Bountiful on the vine, Valhalla will give you loads of 2" fruits and produce up until frost. Truly a delightful new variety for your heirloom garden. A Laurel's exclusive. Does well in heat and cool weather.
Yellow Submarine (70 days)A wonderful little tomato! 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 but with big yummy tomatoey taste. Now the cutest little tomato also has great big flavor! Early ripening cherry tomato.
Yellow ZebraLook at this fruit! This dazzling tomato was such a surprise for me this summer during my tomato tastings.
No comments:
Post a Comment