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NGB members introduce new 2012 fruit, veggie varieties
The Crystal Apple cucumber from Seeds By Design is imported from New Zealand (Photo courtesy of the National Garden Bureau).
By Bobbie Whitehead
Gardeners will find more unique-shaped veggies with vibrant colors and better taste for 2012 as well as plenty bred for containers as the line up of new varieties available continues to grow.
Among the latest introductions, National Garden Bureau members have added more than 100 new flower, vegetable and herb varieties sure to garner attention at markets and in gardens during the spring.
One unique newcomer from Seeds By Design of California is the cucumber “Crystal Apple.”
Gardeners will find more unique-shaped veggies with vibrant colors and better taste for 2012 as well as plenty bred for containers as the line up of new varieties available continues to grow.
Among the latest introductions, National Garden Bureau members have added more than 100 new flower, vegetable and herb varieties sure to garner attention at markets and in gardens during the spring.
One unique newcomer from Seeds By Design of California is the cucumber “Crystal Apple.”
This round cucumber “imported from New Zealand” has “thin tender creamy-white skin,” according to the vegetable, fruit and herb supplier and producer.
When the cucumber ripens, its diameter can reach three inches, and the vegetable is described as having a “mild flavor, very prolific, similar to Lemon cucumber from the early 1930's” as noted in the product description.
Gardeners will also have more container vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplants, squash and chili peppers. Among the list is the Pot Black, a container eggplant from Floranova Ltd/Vegetalis of the United Kingdom.
This variety can grow up to two feet tall and produces small, black eggplants, according to the product description. Floranova’s description adds that gardeners can harvest the fruit once it reaches the size of a ping pong ball.
Of the tomatoes, gardeners will find a new Sakata® Seed America Inc. variety, the determinate Sweet Zen F1 grape tomato. Growing up to two feet tall, Sweet Zen F1 produces red, oval-shaped grape tomatoes that mature early, and “unlike other determinate types it can be harvested over a longer period of time,” according to Sakata® Seed America of California.
Another tomato variety said to have higher levels of disease-fighting properties is the Indigo Rose from Territorial Seed of Cottage Grove, Ore. This indeterminate tomato was bred at Oregon State University and is unique because it has “the first high-anthocyanin tomato commercially available anywhere in the world. The high amount of anthocyanin (a naturally occurring pigment that has been shown to fight disease in humans) creates quite a vibrant indigo, almost blue skin,” according to the company.
Indigo Rose tomatoes grow to about two inches in diameter while the plant grows over 24 inches, Territorial Seed notes.
Gardeners can also find plenty of new hot pepper varieties. Cherry Stuffer F1 from The Cook’s Garden of Warminster, Pa., is said to have a “sweeter” taste and less heat than the popular Cherry Bomb, and the plant grows to two feet, according to the product description.
Floranova Ltd/Vegetalis also has two container chili peppers, one being the Basket of Fire, described as growing up to 10 inches tall, and the Cayennetta F1, an All-America Selections 2012 winner.
Earlier this year, Renee’s Garden of Felton, Calif., introduced a new zucchini squash for containers, and the W. Atlee Burpee Co. of Warminster, Pa., too, has a new container squash called the Golden Egg. Burpee describes the squash as shaped like an egg with a golden-yellow color and writes Golden Egg is “[t]he best-tasting squash in Burpee's taste trials for two years in a row. A picture-perfect gourmet sensation.”
The National Garden Bureau features the new varieties for 2012 in the following slide show.
When the cucumber ripens, its diameter can reach three inches, and the vegetable is described as having a “mild flavor, very prolific, similar to Lemon cucumber from the early 1930's” as noted in the product description.
Gardeners will also have more container vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplants, squash and chili peppers. Among the list is the Pot Black, a container eggplant from Floranova Ltd/Vegetalis of the United Kingdom.
This variety can grow up to two feet tall and produces small, black eggplants, according to the product description. Floranova’s description adds that gardeners can harvest the fruit once it reaches the size of a ping pong ball.
Of the tomatoes, gardeners will find a new Sakata® Seed America Inc. variety, the determinate Sweet Zen F1 grape tomato. Growing up to two feet tall, Sweet Zen F1 produces red, oval-shaped grape tomatoes that mature early, and “unlike other determinate types it can be harvested over a longer period of time,” according to Sakata® Seed America of California.
Another tomato variety said to have higher levels of disease-fighting properties is the Indigo Rose from Territorial Seed of Cottage Grove, Ore. This indeterminate tomato was bred at Oregon State University and is unique because it has “the first high-anthocyanin tomato commercially available anywhere in the world. The high amount of anthocyanin (a naturally occurring pigment that has been shown to fight disease in humans) creates quite a vibrant indigo, almost blue skin,” according to the company.
Indigo Rose tomatoes grow to about two inches in diameter while the plant grows over 24 inches, Territorial Seed notes.
Gardeners can also find plenty of new hot pepper varieties. Cherry Stuffer F1 from The Cook’s Garden of Warminster, Pa., is said to have a “sweeter” taste and less heat than the popular Cherry Bomb, and the plant grows to two feet, according to the product description.
Floranova Ltd/Vegetalis also has two container chili peppers, one being the Basket of Fire, described as growing up to 10 inches tall, and the Cayennetta F1, an All-America Selections 2012 winner.
Earlier this year, Renee’s Garden of Felton, Calif., introduced a new zucchini squash for containers, and the W. Atlee Burpee Co. of Warminster, Pa., too, has a new container squash called the Golden Egg. Burpee describes the squash as shaped like an egg with a golden-yellow color and writes Golden Egg is “[t]he best-tasting squash in Burpee's taste trials for two years in a row. A picture-perfect gourmet sensation.”
The National Garden Bureau features the new varieties for 2012 in the following slide show.
2012 NGB New Varieties Vegetables
View more presentations from National Garden Bureau
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