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Old May 22, 2018   #1
Gardeneer
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Default What Is In The Name ?

Do you really care what the name of a tomato is ? I don,t as long as I like its taste, production and other specifics.
Having said that, out of 24 varieties in my garden SEVEN of them have no official name but I name them myself.here they are :
1- Ananas Noire. Well, originally I got the seeds from store bought heirloom, six years ago. It was 90% identified as AN but not 100%.
Brown Heart. Same source as above. This one is a brown heart shaped tomato. No match has been found over 5 years.
3- Tiger Grape. Source Trader Joes Heirloom mix grape/cherry. Fruit size about Juliet.
4- Tiger Heart. A mutation of above, with nice heart shape. Same color, same size.
5- Mystry. I found a volunteer growing in the crack between the landscape bricks, in fall of 2016, in my new location/property. I saved it. It was worth it. It turned out a multicolor, similar to my AN. but the plant is very compact indet.
6-Sara Black ?/Black Kreme?. This one is also from store bought heirloom 3 years ago.
7- Red Grape. Source store bought. This one is amazing. It is a compact indet. I think it is also multiflora. Right now ,in 6 gallon pot, has maybe 100 tomatoes and more flowers. What is interesting is that the fruits are bigger than those I bought from store. The store bought tasted good. Very meaty, not much seeds. With fairly thick skin has long shelf life and good to make sauce for pasta. At about 60 days from plant out nothing ripe yet but should be soon..
All of those are among my top favorites .
So, what is in the name ?
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Old May 22, 2018   #2
imp
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The history of that variety. Hopefully knowing what it really is supposed to be in most cases.
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Old May 22, 2018   #3
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There's some names that I would have to pass on - Like, "Uncle Bubba's Dirty Socks" (Made up - not real - I hope.)

I think it's funny that people call large tomatoes, "Beefsteak". I have never seen a tomato that looks like a T Bone or any other cut of steak from a cow/bull. Here is some info though https://www.google.com/search?source....0.GTVJnBr_Ekw
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Old May 23, 2018   #4
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Only sometimes, do I care. For instance, I waited years to try Stump of the World despite recommendations because it just didn't sound that good. Who wants to grow a stump, lol? Almost every other tomato I wanted to try sounded better. So sometimes, it might matter, even if most times it doesn't.
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Old May 23, 2018   #5
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Trying Dirty Little Chicken and Bad Horsey this year. I'm a sucker for clever names. Last year the variety Toad Suck Toad never even set a green tomato. Hope the 82 varieties I have this year do better.
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Old May 23, 2018   #6
carolyn137
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Yes, I VERY much care that individual varieties have the right name,whether I like them,or not. And yes,no one has grown all varieties that are out there, but I've done my part by growing something around 4,000 plus varieties,to date

One of the major problems that I've seen for many many years is that many folks don't bother to even try to find out what a variety should be,thus they grow something wrong and don't know it and pass it on to others yet keeping the same supposed real variety name.

And I also think that everyone knows,or should know, that no one person is perfect either and I'm not speaking just to tomatoes.

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Old May 23, 2018   #7
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We all are susceptible to advertising, even if we don't want to be. Sometimes a cute or interesting name sells. Some names that are less appealing, in my mind, are BHN-589, Carbon, Church, County Agent, Coyote, Heinz 1439, German Head, Stone, Taxi, any foreign word(s) (Who can even pronounce Wherokowhai???), Work Release Paste.



Names that are appealing or spark ones curiosity are good: Ambrosia Red, Aunt (anybody's- fill in the blank, also grandma, other relatives), Garden Treasure, Girl Girl's Weird Thing, Rebel Yell, Captain Lucky, Seek No Further Love Apple, Sungold.



Descriptive names are good, too: Big Beef, Big Red, Black Cherry, Dwarf Scarlet Heart, Early Girl, Fourth of July, Patio.



IMO


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Old May 23, 2018   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b View Post
We all are susceptible to advertising, even if we don't want to be. Sometimes a cute or interesting name sells. Some names that are less appealing, in my mind, are BHN-589, Carbon, Church, County Agent, Coyote, Heinz 1439, German Head, Stone, Taxi, any foreign word(s) (Who can even pronounce Wherokowhai???), Work Release Paste.



Names that are appealing or spark ones curiosity are good: Ambrosia Red, Aunt (anybody's- fill in the blank, also grandma, other relatives), Garden Treasure, Girl Girl's Weird Thing, Rebel Yell, Captain Lucky, Seek No Further Love Apple, Sungold.



Descriptive names are good, too: Big Beef, Big Red, Black Cherry, Dwarf Scarlet Heart, Early Girl, Fourth of July, Patio.



IMO


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Thank heavens that with so many posting here at Tville we can see a variety of opinions.

All I can say is that what you listed above would not represent my opinion.

Carolyn
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Old May 23, 2018   #9
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A name is a name, and what matters to me is the character more than the name, whether it’s tomatoes or neighbors. I do agree with Carolyn, that in order to keep varieties straight and pure, correct names must be preserved. That being said, I also agree with Nan that some names grab my attention and imagination more than other names. I still grow Tommy Toe every year, partly because it’s a great red cherry, and partly because it makes me giggle inside a little whenever I say the name. Same with Darth Mater and Seek-no-Further Love Apple. I love a clever name.


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Old May 24, 2018   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by carolyn137 View Post
Yes, I VERY much care that individual varieties have the right name,whether I like them,or not. And yes,no one has grown all varieties that are out there, but I've done my part by growing something around 4,000 plus varieties,to date
Yes, it drives me crazy when people get imprecise about naming and seed purity when they're sharing with others. I always bag blossoms and record my original sources for the seed whenever possible.

But I think that's a different issue than caring what a tomato is called as a factor in whether or not you want to grow it. If a tomato tastes great and performs well in my garden, I don't really care that much what it's called.
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Old May 24, 2018   #11
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I had about 30 volunteers come up in my worm bed at so I picked the biggest one and transplanted. I picked the name Wormy as it seemed appropriate. The rest I just named them wormy.

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Old May 24, 2018   #12
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i like the anthropological aspect of different cultivars and the "Stories" behind them
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Old May 24, 2018   #13
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After twenty or so years of growing the Boys, Girls, The Betters or the Earlys, in 1990-something, I came across a small nursery selling some strangely named tomatoes. For the first year or so the stranger the name the better was the reason for choosing tomato seeds to start, which I began the third year of growing "heirlooms".

My first contact was with a man who became a friendly advisor on all things tomato, Chuck Wyatt, who I contacted through that new fangled machine called a computer. Then it was on to Garden Webb and Carolyn and then the sky (and Tomatoville and Not Just Tomatoes) became the limit.

While not as prolific as some, my count is up above 500. Not bad for beginning in late middle-age. It drives me crazy to see some of the strangely named varieties get called even stranger names. At least the given names should be kept as they were supposed to have been. I cringe at Purple Cherokee and all the other mangled titles.

I love the stories and the histories behind my hobby and compulsion. I still get excited when I see a variety with an interesting or new to me name. Fascinating!
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Old May 25, 2018   #14
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I also agree with Carolyn, in that a tomatoes name should never be changed from what the originator gave it. If a person comes across an unknown named variety, they should try to find out it's name, not give it a new one for the sake of ease.

On the other hand, if an originator of a tomato gives it a great name, I am inclined to think that just the name alone could cause it to become popular. I would never eat a tomato named The Thong.
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Old May 25, 2018   #15
carolyn137
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Very secretly I have been breeding new tomato varieties for many years. Most of you know that I no longer can do any of my own gardening since I'm home bound and chained to this walker.So I have to hire others to do all of that.

What I do is to select the initial OP parents and give the seeds to F,who grows them out and she knows how to save seeds from that 1st cross. But she doesn't have all that much room so gives them to D,who has lots of room,she grows them out and I tell her what I'm looking for and she brings me leaf samples and developing fruits up to fully ripe fruits so I can sample them.

Then Dave, not my brother Dave,this Dave delivers my mail, gets involved as well, with doing another line of crosses.

From that first line I've already chosen some of the names I'm going to give them and here are some of them

Purple Trillium

Celtic Princess

Golden Honeysuckle

Lilac Rose

Spotted Pulmoneria

Fuschia Bicolor

Dripping Jewels, a multiflora with 4 different colored fruits
...just to name a few.

So what am I going to do with them?

Since I'm no longer a listed SSE member but am a Lifetime member, so get all the publications,I'm not going to offer them in the Annual Yearbook.

I had told my brother and my nephew when Mischka planned to get this site up, back in Jan of 2006 and the next thing I know my nephew appears here,true story, and asks M if he can help out in any way, and M said yes, and my nephew stayed here for quite a while and then left and wanted to put up a website for me,he's an absolute wizard with anything computer related.

So I might ask him again to do that for me so I'd have my own website to offer my new varieties. Would I ask money for them,or postage for sending them? Absolutely not.

They would be free and in return if some folks wanted to send me back some dark bittersweet chocolate ,that would be thanks enough for me.

So if this happens,would any of you follow me to that new site?

I'd have to have him get it up and running soon since I'll be 79 this June, so not all that much time to be offering free seeds as I see it.

All for now,

Carolyn
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