New Tomatoes for 2020

The backyard Tomato, ready to serve to angels—this one is ‘Bush Champion II’

For the backyard garden, nothing attracts customers like a good Tomato collection. “They come in for the Tomato; they leave with the garden,” is the saying, and it is so true. We consider the Tomato a minivan category, and we see it on our own production reports. We ship more Tomatoes than any other type of vegetable. Some years they even enter the Top Ten list for all plants—flower, foliage or otherwise.

As a result, we put a lot of effort into the varieties we add. Some are improvements on favorites; others are brand new. They run the gamut from unusual cherries, better sauce varieties, and very pretty globes to important heirlooms. Let’s take a tour of the new cultivars we will be releasing this spring, starting with the cherry and working our way through to the beefsteak selections.

A royal purple to add to the bubbly, frothy Alyssum color carpet

Dark hued groundcovers are very useful in the early spring. Alyssum ‘Clear Crystal Purple Shades’, a natural companion for whites and yellows of early spring, does the best job of making pastels pop. That look is the first reason to complete both landscape and container projects with it.

‘Clear Crystal Purple Shades’ brings a royal purple, lightly variegated by a small lavender eye, to the bubbly, frothy Alyssum color carpet. We can tuck it underneath larger plants, use it to fill color gaps in the garden, or accent lighter colors in a container with it. In addition to showcasing yellow Pansies, this Alyssum also pairs well with the purple accents found in white or lightly colored Osteos and Nemesias.

A beefier version of standard Alyssum, covered in very dense blooms

Cold tolerance is the second reason to choose ‘Clear Crystal Purple Shades’. This series is one of the first effective groundcovers of the season, handling light frost and bouncing back easily. A plant like ‘Clear Crystal Purple Shades’ is just plain reliable, however, so we like to use it throughout the spring season. It remains frothy until the high heat of July and August shuts it down. Once the cooler weather of September arrives we return to ‘Clear Crystal Purple Shades’ because nothing else delivers bubbly in a dark hue as effectively, and it lasts well past the other choices.

Clear Crystal is a beefier version of the standard Alyssum, so it is taller by a few inches, wider by even more, and covered in very dense blooms. We sometimes wonder how the sunshine manages to squeak by all those blossoms. This series keeps up with other plants inside combos, and we have no trouble creating mass plantings to cover garden beds.

For best results, keep in mind two details. One is that Alyssum benefits from full sun; partial shade cuts back its flower production. The other is standing water; if puddles stick around after a rainstorm, the soil is too wet for Alyssum.

Alyssum ‘Clear Crystal Purple Shades’ is available in the 1203 flat.