Sunrise at Ocracoke - from our 2002 Thanksgiving trip

Since we are getting to part of my collection where I’ve not grown many of the varieties out, I am expanding into chunks of 25. This is an odd bunch. I’ve grown very few, but perhaps the most important tomato of all in my collection, Cherokee Purple, finally appears as #287. Many of these were sent to me, unrequested, by a Californian tomato collector named Don Branscomb, and upcoming Parts are exclusively so. Considering I only grew 6 of the following 25 tomatoes, this won’t be a very large section.

Tomato #276 - Cancer - sent by Don Branscomb, 1990. I never grew it, but shared all of the Branscomb samples with Carolyn and I believe she did grow it. It is listed as a medium sized pink in the SSE Exchange.

Tomato #277 - Clearlake Pink - Another from Don Branscomb (who lived in Clearlake CA) - not grown by me, but listed in the SSE exchange. Supposedly an indigenous variety from that area - highly oblate ribbed mediums sized determinate pink.

Tomato #278 - Transparent Beef - Same source - not grown by me - Exchange describes it as a medium sized flavorful pink tomato.

Tomato #279 - Brandywine Mutate - another Branscomb variety of which nothing seems to be known. I have the seed, never grew it, and it more than likely won’t germinate.

Tomato #280 - Healani - Sent to me by George Pesta of WV in 1990 and not grown. A variety developed for various disease resistances by the University of Hawaii, and described as medium sized red tomato.

Tomato #281 - Kewalo - Also from George Pesta and not grown by me, and also a tomato bred for various tomato disease resistances by the U of Hawaii. It is a medium sized red tomato.

Tomato #282 - Star Trek - Sent to me by David George in 1990 as his own selection, and grown by me in 1990. It is an indeterminate medium to large red, good flavor, regular leaf plant. It is still listed as available in the SSE Exchange.

Tomato #283 - Ropreco Italian - from Don Branscomb 1990. Not much is known about this except it is a determinate red Italian typical paste tomato with various availability from smaller seed companies.

Tomato #284 - DX 52-12 - from Don Branscomb 1990. Bred by Alan Hamson for Campbell Soup, apparently a determinate medium round paste type of red color, offered in the SSE exchange.

Tomato #285 - Better Boy Hy Clone - from Don Branscomb 1990, and nothing appears to be known about it. Don Branscomb sent lots of these obscure mysteries!

Tomato #286 - Yellow Gold - Sent to me by J. D. Green along with Cherokee Purple (wow, what a piece of mail that was!). I grew it out in 1991 and it was a rampant, high yielding determinate plant with somewhat fine foliage and medium sized yellow lumpy plum fruit with some hollow spaces inside. It seems to have passed into oblivion.

Tomato #287 - Cherokee Purple - This is the most important tomato in my collection. Sent to me by John Green of Sevierville TN in 1990 with no name, subsequent conversations indicate he received the seed from Jean Greenlee of Rutledge, TN - her grandfather received them from the Cherokee Nation. I gave it its name and sent it to Jeff McCormack of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. He introduced it in 1993. It is simply a superb variety, producing 8-12 ounce purple tomatoes with a full, complete flavor.

Tomato #288 - Rocky - received from SSE member IL NI M in 1990 and never grown. Apparently “large bomb shaped red tomatoes, some tending to a heart shape, with ferny/wispy foliage. Rocky Mastro received seeds from an Italian friend in the 1960s who brought them back from a visit to Italy. Rocky gave them to George McLaughlin’s father in 1973 - he passed them on to George in 1983.

Tomato #289 - German Yellow - from MO PE R in 1990, grown in 1990 but was obviously crossed (I got medium hollow red tomatoes instead of orange or yellow). There are quite a few “German Yellow” listed in the SSE - who knows which, if any, are this one.

Tomato #290 - Russo Sicilian (Togetta) - from IA RO R in 1990. I didn’t grow this sample, but did grow Russo Sicilian as sold by the SSE. It was apparently brought to the US from Italy in the 1987 and given to Ann Fuller of Indiana. The regular leaf plants produce medium flat red tomatoes with distinct scalloping. I found it attractive when I grew the SSE commercial sample, but not necessarily enjoyable.

Tomato #291 - Micado Violettor - This and the tomatoes up to Bielorussia were sent to me by Paul Gardener of Australia in 1990. Paul described this one as striped or with two colors, but I didn’t find that. Hoping it was a form of the historic variety Mikado (Henderson, 1880s), I did get a large (rampant!) potato leaf plant that produced loads of smallish flat bland pink tomatoes.

Tomato #292 - Yellow Egg - Also from Paul Gardener and not grown out. Listed in the SSE exchange with no description.

Tomato #293 - Ambition - From Paul Gardener, not grown. It is listed in the SSE exchange as available but with no description.

Tomato #294 - Jahmatto - From Paul Gardener, not grown. No description can be found anywhere.

Tomato #295 - Bielorussia - From Paul Gardener, not grown. No descriptions can be found anywhere.

Tomato #296 - Canner 95 - Here we resume the Don Branscomb varieties. The SSE Exchange lists a tomato “95” that was sent by Territorial Seed - apparently the typical red paste canning tomato for the PNW. I never grew it and there is no additional info that I can find.

Tomato #297 - O 457 - From Branscomb, 1990, and utterly obscure. I didn’t grow it out.

Tomato #298 - Elisa - from Don Branscomb, 1990. I grew it in 1991 - it was determinate, with medium sized average tasting red tomatoes that cracked badly. No info seems to exist anywhere.

Tomato #299 - Valdy - from Don Branscomb 1990, never grown, no info available.

Tomato #300 - Deep Globe - from Don Branscomb, 1990. Never grown, no information available anywhere.

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Pretty uninspiring set of tomatoes shown above. The jewel of the bunch is Cherokee Purple, of course. I do wish that Yellow Gold were still around to try again - it was quite odd and interesting.

The next set of 25 will be similarly uninteresting, as they were all sent by Don Branscomb, and I grew but a few.