Foamflower at the Botanical Gardens of Asheville, April 19.

The race to get through the first 250 tomatoes in my collection continues apace. This next 10 is a rather curious bunch - read on and see!

Tomato #151 - Mission Dyke - I clearly raided the Gleckler catalog in 1989 - here is another I purchased. Information is very scant (I need to find my old Gleckler catalogs). All I have is that it is pink and good for hot humid areas. I never did get around to growing it.

Tomato #152 - Lemon Bush - you guessed it - bought from Gleckler in 1989. And I didn’t grow it. And I can’t find a thing about it - I recall even the Gleckler catalog had little to say.

Tomato #153 - German Head - this is the last of seeds purchased in 1989 from Gleckler, and once again, never did grow. It is a regular leaf, large, meaty beefsteak in the one pound range, and reportedly from Germany. From reports on the web, this is one I should add to my grow list some day. I would have to repurchase the seeds.

Tomato #154 - Prudens Purple - I got this from MD BE B in 1989, and grew it that year. I first added this to my collection as tomato #73 - refer to that blog for the background. I picked first fruit in 72 days - 18 tomatoes at an average weight of 13.6 ounces, so the plant provided a little over 15 pounds of tomatoes. I liked the variety very much - the potato leaf plant produced oblate pink tomatoes that rated an A- - I think of this as a Brandywine type that is a bit smaller and earlier, and a little less intense in flavor.

Tomato #155 - Mrs. Lindsey - This came from SSE member Thane Earle of Wisconsin in 1989, and I grew it in 1991. It is the same tomato as Yellow White, described in my blog for tomato #142.

Tomato #156 - Kentucky Heirloom - this is also from Thane Earl in 1989. I need to return to the SSE yearbook to get a description, though for Thane, info is typically very thin. Is this another name for Mrs. Lindsey, above, or a different variety? Nope - I didn’t grow it (yet). I tend to think it is the ivory colored one aka Yellow White.

Tomato #157 - Dona F1 hybrid - This is one of three hybrids (this and the next two), released by Shepherd Seeds in 1989. All are indeterminate, European medium sized red tomatoes. Any listing for Dona non-hybrid should likely be avoided, since seeds saved from a hybrid could lead to anything.

Tomato #158 - Carmello F1 hybrid - see the info for Tomato #157, above. This is another red hybrid that I’ve not grown.

Tomato #159 - Lorissa F1 hybrid - yet again, a tomato purchased from Shepherd in 1989 that is a red hybrid that I haven’t grown.

Tomato #160 - trial variety JSS 8737 hybrid (released as Valley Girl) - I was sent this variety by Johnny’s Selected Seeds in 1989 as a trial variety, along with JSS 361 hybrid. I grew it in 1989, and found it to be a productive determinate medium sized red whose flavor was not all that much to my liking. I harvested first fruit in 74 days, and harvested 52 tomatoes from the plant - it is very productive! - fruit averaged 6.7 ounces, so the plant produced nearly 22 pounds - but the flavor was only a B.

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Not too impressive, hey? Although I suspect some of these that I didn’t try are fine tomatoes. Only Prudens Purple, of the above 10 varieties, left a positive impression.