Truth in Advertising?

One thing about gardening as a hobby is its peaceful and therapeutic nature. Life itself, including our jobs, and even many other hobbies can be controversial and stressful. We gardeners do have to adjust to some challenges during the growing season, though. Dealing with mother nature as she shows herself in the unpredictability of weather comes to mind. Then there is the annual onslaught of bugs, critters and diseases. But, there is also the sense that gardening is an ethical hobby, in which there is nothing to be gained from misrepresentation and dishonesty. What you put into the ground in the spring will be matched later on by what you harvest, with no unpleasant surprises.

Alas, gardening does occasionally fall victim to those who are more concerned with profit than with truth. As a person who treats gardening with respect, and expects those involved to maintain high standards, this is the one area that has been bugging me lately. It really was not very noticeable in times past, when seed catalogs were mostly concerned with peddling the latest and greatest hybrid tomato. But, an interesting trend toward heirlooms has emerged recently, which is great news for all adventurous gardeners. Due to the success of the Seed Savers Exchange in attracting attention to the superiority of many heirloom varieties of all vegetable and fruit crops, it was only a matter of time until seed companies decided that they were missing the boat on potential profits.

I get a lot of seed catalogs in the mail each spring, but not nearly as many as I used to. That is because of the realization that there is very little, if anything, that they now carry that I either do not have, or cannot easily acquire from gardening friends, many of whom are also active members of the SSE. Also, Carolyn, myself and many others have been providing some smaller seed companies with samples of what we feel are the best of what we have grown. This has led to wider exposure and availability through inclusion into various seed catalogs. But, I still get enough catalogs to be able to show you how much more accessible heirlooms now are. For example, two of the major US seed companies, Burpee and Parks, now carry heirloom tomatoes (Parks carries one, Brandywine, and Burpee carries two, Big Rainbow and Brandywine). Stokes, though carrying 30 open pollinated tomatoes, do not sell any well known heirlooms, eliminating Bonny Best and Dwarf Champion recently. Perhaps this is because they tend to cater to professional growers, and it is widely felt that heirloom tomatoes are too fragile and risky for all but small market growers and home gardeners to grow. Nichols carries 20 open pollinated tomatoes, including a number of better known heirlooms such as Ponderosa and Oxheart. Some companies, such as Pine Tree and Gleckler, have always carried a balance of the new and the old, and continue to do so. Johnny’s Selected Seeds decided to expand their selection of heirloom tomatoes a few years ago, and now list 26 open pollinated tomatoes along with a good selection of recent hybrids. Among the heirlooms they list are such popular ones as Prudens Purple, Cherokee Purple, Great White, Yellow Brandywine, as well as the less widely known but equally excellent Giant Paste and Cuostralee. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange has an outstanding collection of open pollinated tomatoes, most of which are fine heirloom varieties. Amongst the 67 open pollinated (OP) varieties is a unique offering of tomatoes developed at the turn of the century by Alexander Livingston. Seeds Blum has a similarly large collection of heirlooms, divided into colors, sizes or uses. I have not yet received the catalog from another fine company, the Tomato Growers Supply Company, but previous years have seen the number of well, and not so well, known heirloom tomatoes on a significant increase. Two other companies that are involved with such tomatoes are Seeds of Change, which lists 35 OP tomato varieties, and Totally Tomatoes, with 144 OP listings. Seeds of Change has amongst their collection some varieties that they developed by selecting from well known hybrids , such as their Peacevine Cherry. This tomato was bred from growouts of the Sweet 100 hybrid. Totally Tomatoes, Shumway, and Vermont Bean Seed are actually the same large company, despite sending out separate catalogs. There are many other seed companies, large and small, that are out there offering various numbers of heirloom tomatoes amongst their offerings. What a change from 10 years ago! When I became deeply involved in gardening back in 1986, which was the year that I joined the SSE, the only commercial source for the out of the ordinary was Glecklers. We should all applaud the efforts of these and other seed companies that have decided to make these great heirlooms available to a wider audience.

So, why am I complaining, and what is the major reason for this article? I am thrilled to see the heirloom tomatoes widely available to the gardening public at long last. Now thousands of gardeners who have not opted to join and participate in the SSE for one reason or another can find out what we have known for a long time. There is so much to experience beyond Big Boy and Roma. Seeds from heirlooms can be saved and passed on to others. Finally, there is now a much better chance that these varieties will not become lost or forgotten. But, what about the information that is showing up in the seed catalogs? Is it accurate, or has it been distorted to attract sales? And even more troublesome, have the companies that are now offering these varieties ever even seen them growing, or tasted them? Why do many of the descriptions read the same, catalog to catalog? I feel that there is no need to attach an over the top description to heirlooms. The fact that they have been maintained for their excellence speaks for itself. And, the history of a variety should be carefully recorded, just as the genealogy of a family is maintained accurately.

It is disturbing to me to see how much misinformation is indeed being perpetuated in the seed business. Truth in advertising? There is no guarantee of that. I can deal with too much rain, or very dry periods, or the bugs. I can even forgive the deer that have recently become so fond of nearly everything green in my garden. What is offensive to me is the lack of respect that some have for their customers. There are simply too many mistakes in seed catalogs in the area of heirloom vegetables.

Some examples will be given to illustrate my points. I want to start with the tomato that has become one of the biggest mysteries so far. Abraham Lincoln was bred by the Buckbee Seed Company, and was first released to the gardening public in 1923. The original description from the 1923 seed catalog states that it is a large tomato, over a pound each, on a large plant. The drawing of the plant on the cover of the catalog shows a plant that has bronzy tinged green foliage. I have obtained this tomato from numerous sources, including numerous seed companies and home gardeners. Each time I grew short 4 foot tall green plants bearing medium sized red tomatoes. No one seems to have the real thing, yet seed company after seed company maintain the original description.

There are numerous examples of the colors of heirloom tomatoes being incorrectly given. Many pink tomatoes are listed as red, especially Dinner Plate, Wanda’s Potato Top, Jefferson Davis, and Brandywine (though there is a Red Brandywine, and it is nothing like the pink version). This probably seems like a minor point. I think it is a major issue, however. One problem with growing heirloom tomatoes and saving seeds is knowing if you have crossing. Color and leaf shape are important factors in identifying whether you have the real thing or not. Another observation is that many seed companies offer descriptions that are exactly the same as those that appeared in the old Gleckler catalogs. Or, as I said previously, some descriptions seem to be identical, company to company. You would think that it would be wise for these companies to grow the tomatoes out and see for themselves, and write their catalog descriptions from their observations. A lot of the descriptions also seem to come from the SSE Yearbook listings, which is even more risky, since a lot of crossing and inaccurate recording of information occurs in the SSE growers networks. One catalog gives lots of incorrect growth characteristics of the plants. An example is listing vigorous indeterminate varieties as growing 18 to 24 inches tall (feet, maybe!), or small 4-6 ounce fruit being 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Another catalog lists a series of Russian tomatoes with accompanying descriptions that are way over the top compared to their performance in the garden. There are also such problems as listing German Johnson, a well known North Carolina heirloom and one of the original parents of Mortgage Lifter, as a potato leaf variety, when it is really a regular leaf plant. It makes you wonder if the seed companies know what they are selling to the public, or even care.

The thing that gives me the most trouble, though, is when twisted history ends up in the catalog description. There are examples of calling such varieties as Green Grape, Green Zebra, Banana Legs, or Snow White Cherry heirloom varieties (they were actually the result of growouts from hybrid crosses made in the 1970’s and 1980’s). More disturbing is giving a tomato a completely new history! My favorite example is Cherokee Purple. I was sent this tomato in the late 1980’s by J. D. Green of Servierville, Tennessee. He told me that he received the tomato from his neighbors, whose ancestors received the strain from local Cherokee Indians there. A major seed catalog now lists the history as ”originally given by native Americans to early Appalachian settlers, making its way from Pennsylvania to Georgia”! Some catalogs list Mortgage Lifter as being an Amish heirloom from the 1800’s, when in truth it was developed in West Virginia in the mid 1920’s. There is a full history of this remarkable tomato in the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange catalog. Then there is Mr. Stripey, which is showing up in lots of catalogs over the past 2 years as a large bicolor heirloom. In reality, Mr. Stripey is a synonym for an older English developed variety called Tigerella, which is a small red tomato with jagged gold stripes.

So, what is an avid heirloom gardener to do? My advice is to deal with seed companies that have a track record for treating heirloom tomatoes and their history with accuracy and respect. Such companies as Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Tomato Grower’s Supply Company, and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange fit this bill, and are making a significant impact in bringing these wonderful living treasures into people’s gardens all over the country.