Folks never 'bother' me with undiscovered varieties...the 2 that I have had shared with me are I think 2 local OP (possibly heirloom) varieties. One I know for sure was bred locally, and I haven't seen anything about it on the net.

The gentleman who bred it (and grew it out) has since passed on. I would like to contact the family and get it named in his honor, and introduced to the growing community, unless they have other plans or mind me doing so.

someday......

Sue

It is rare, but once in a while a real gem comes along by someone sharing seed. This is how Craig Lehoullier got Cherokee Purple. It has since become one of the most popular heirlooms on the market.

You can cross your own varieties, select from the offspring over a period of years, and create an open pollinated variety. If you are careful and have really good tastebuds, it can be a real winner.

Fusion

I've been really lucky with that type of story - that is how I got Anna Russian, Gallo Plum, Reif Red Heart, Giant Syrian, Cherokee Purple, of course (as Fusion mentioned above), Lillian's Red Kansas, Lillian's Yellow Heirloom, Yellow Brandywine, Potato Leaf Yellow, Mexico Midget, Fritsche, Armenian, Dr. Wyche's Yellow - all varieties that friends or tomato enthusiasts shared with me with high praise....pretty much all of them received in 1989-1990! I was really lucky to have received them and was able to get them into the SSE through exchanges with other members, once I listed them. And I didn't mention all those that I got that didn't seem all that special to me (but I listed them in the SSE anyway)!

Craig

Wow, so it's not as irritating as those Strad calls, apparently!

Any good stories associated with any of the heirlooms you've "discovered?"

Any good stories associated with any of the heirlooms you've "discovered?"

*****

Yes, the history behind Neves Azorean Red and Omar's Lebanese are two examples but first let me indicate how I get/got heirloom seed that is new to all except the family that was growing it.

It started out in the mid-80's with contacts of my mother and father.

And then continued at the place where I was teaching at the time. I let everyone, faculty and students alike, know that I was interested in getting such seeds, and some say I even changed grades if those came to be. LOL Not true.

But from faculty I got Crnkovic Yugoslavian, Soldacki, Opalka, Yasha Yugoslavian, Omar's Lebanese , Chris Ukrainian and more.

From students I got Heidi, Gogosha, and quite a few Latvian ones b'c at that time the women's basketball team was composed almost exclusively of very tall Latvian women. LOL And I had two students from the then Russia and got quite a few from them as well. Also the varieties Tadesse and Wuhib from an Ethiopian student who went back to Addas Abbaba to visit family.

Sarnowski Polish Plum seeds I got b'c the Sarnowski's had given to Charlie, my farmer friend, a flat of their family heirloom variety, and they readily agreed to my having the seeds and they named it.

Neves Azorean Red I got from someone who was taking an adult ed course on Heirloom Tomatoes that I was asked to teach. LOL

And each time I made a seed offer online when folks would send their SASE's there were always some new ones included for me to trial.

And so it goes.

I listed every single new one in the SSE Yearbooks and if a variety became popular it stuck. And in the past I was asked to send seeds to Pinetree and Shepherd Seeds and I've always continued to send to Linda at TGS and Glenn at Sandhill Preservation what I consider to be the best of what I've grown in any one year so they can trial them.

Craig and I once toted up how many new varieties each of us had initially listed in the SSE Yearbooks and I think it was hundreds, for both of us.

German Red Strawberry and Orange Strawberry were sent to me by Majorie Morris of IN.

Contact with the head of the English Dept at a local HS, whose wife was an immigration lawyer, gave me Sandul Moldovan and several others.

Kiev, was from someone who liked to come to my tomato patch and harvest fruits and was from his Ukrainian neighbor.

Bulgarian #7 was given to me by Andy Smith who wrote that great book about tomato history and culture, as brought back from Bulgaria by his son who was there for a year.

Olena Ukrainian came to me from John Bartkowski whose neighbor was Ukrainian, Olena Warchona to be exact, and it bothers me that some in Europe have changed the name from what Olena wanted to Warshona Ukrainian.

Sophie's Choice seeds came to me from a person who subbed to the newslatter that Craig and I used to publish about heirloom tomatoes.

Box Car Willie, Mule Team, Great Divide, Pasture and Red Barn all came from Joe Bratka, whose father bred them, Joe found the seeds in glass jars in a tool shed and sent them to me b'c he couldn't germinate any of them. There were 2-3 I couldn't germinate and I always wondered what they might have turned out to be.

Carolyn

Carolyn,

Thank you for sharing that wonderful history!

Clearly there's no parallel between heirloom tomatoes and priceless violins. Although if one of my college students were to give me a REAL Stradivarius I think that might be grounds for an A! LOL

Now I'll have to check with our friends in Ghana - I certainly remember the beautiful street vendor displays of tomatoes there.

Elizabeth