Elberta Peach the same as Elberta Girl?

[pugs]

Hi,

Does anyone know if Elberta Peach offered in Totally Tomatoes is the same as Elberta Girl, which Tom developed?

When I was ordering seed I couldn't remember the whole name, so I ordered the wrong one. I now have another order with a different company for Elberta Girl.

Thanks,

Pugs

[tatermater]

Pugs,

My guess is that Elberta Peach is the same as Elberta Girl. I copied a few blurbs from the 'Net to illustrate. Alternate names are part of the mainstream.

I should be glad that they kept the name "Elberta" with it. The peach thing is a no brainer, since Elberta is a peach, but then again, who knows anything about the old peach varieties?

As a plant breeder, it would be nice to have a hat tip on the varieties I have developed. The fact that no seed company has approached me to carry my varieties should be a warning to anyone in the plant breeding business. Oh, there are a few that wanted to trial a few of my lines but no business transaction that makes sense.


00249 - Elberta Peach Tomato
One of the most beautiful tomatoes you'll ever see--resembles its namesake, the famous Elberta Peach! Bright red fruits, striped in regal gold, and are nestled amid silvery-green foliage...almost too pretty to harvest! Plum-shaped fruits average about 3 oz. each. Very productive.



Elberta Peach #4628 (30 seeds) $2.25
This very unusual tomato variety has fuzzy grayish-white foliage punctuated by fruit that is bright orange-red, striped with gold. These tomatoes are small, about 3 ounces, and are round to plum-shaped. They have a tangy flavor that is good, but this variety will be mainly grown for its unique appearance, very attractive foliage and fruit. Determinate. 80 days.

ELBERTA PEACH - CANADIAN HEIRLOOM - -Determinate- This is one of the prettiest and earliest of the old heirloom tomatoes that I grew this season. It has 2-3" slightly oblong fruit on rather short 3' vines with very densely white-pubescent (baby) leaves. Most unusual leaves indeed!. Very ornamental plant. The skin is red with orange stripes with interior flesh red My photo can't even begin to show its beauty. SORRY SOLD OUT FOR 2008

Elberta Girl 100 D
Plum shaped bright red with gold streaks 3 oz fruit.

Tom Wagner

[papavic]

"ELBERTA PEACH - CANADIAN HEIRLOOM - Determinate - This is one of the prettiest and earliest of the old heirloom tomatoes that I grew this season."

Okay, break it down. How accurate is that description re: "Canadian," "old," "heirloom," and "earliest?"

Bill

[clarkbar2311]

It seems as if you've been hosed a few times buy the seed sellers. I wasn't aware that that was one of your varieties.

[tatermater]

I am trying to find the "Canadian" connection to the Elberta Peach (Elberta Girl) with little success. I will email Lisa with Amishland Seeds to see where she found her information.

I notice the late Chuck Wyatt's web site has the peach name too.

Elberta Peach - Look sort of like an Elberta peach but smaller. This variety may be quite variable from year to year. Chuck Wyatt made no promises as to taste or appearances.

I have an email sent to Jack Staub who has a new book out and it includes the Elberta Peach. I hope to talk with him about his book and what he liked about the Elberta Peach. His book...

26. Elberta Peach Tomato From the Inside Flap 75 Exciting Vegetables for Your Garden (Hardcover)
by Jack Staub (Author)
This enchanting book showcases 75 of the world’s most beautiful vegetables and harkens back to the volumes of an earlier age when books such as these were as much prized for their illustrative and literary style as their content, and treasured for generations. Each brief, delightful chapter of Exciting Vegetables is dedicated to a single vegetable cultivar, enumerating it’s visual and edible charms, relating its fascinating history, advising the reader on it’s successful culture, and even including a savory recipe tip. Each chapter also contains an historic or informative call-out that’s sure to engage any gardening enthusiast, as well as a beautiful, full-color rendering of every featured vegetable by outstanding illustrator Ellen Buchert. This lovely book will grace any gardener’s collection for years to come, for these vegetables are so beautiful, they deserve a place in even the most decorative flowerbed or border!

I may have to join the Garden Writer's Association just to set the record straight.

Tom Wagner

[pugs]

Tom,

Thanks for the info. If you like, I can send you some of the seed from Elberta Peach. If you have the time and space, you can grow it out and see for yourself if it is Elberta Girl.

I'll be growing it this year too, so if you make another road trip to Corvallis when it is in fruit, you're welcome to stop by and see it, if you'd like to.

Either way, or both is fine with me.

Pugs

[tatermater]

I received this email from Jack Staub:

Tom,

it's an honor hearing from you.

i got the "elberta peach" designation from the totally tomatoes catalogue, figuring it was a further hybrid of "elberta girl".

i'm sorry i didn't give you credit for developing it, but, as you will see from my green zebra chapter (also attached), i do try to give credit where credit is due.

just finished the fruit companion to 75 exciting vegetables (75 remarkable fruit) -- 75 exceptional herbs out in the fall.

many thanks,

jack staub

There are literally hundreds of laudable varieties of tomatoes grown in the 20th Century, but here I recommend to you the ravishing cultivar Elberta Peach. This truly unusual tomato variety is a visual stunner and only distantly similar to the familiar, round, red, run-of-the-mill type. Firstly, the Elberta Peach is immediately commendable for its uncommonly appealing foliage, which is fuzzy and of a striking grayish-white coloration. These highly attractive vines are further enhanced by pretty, smallish, round to plum-shaped fruit that are a brilliant orange-red, gaily striped longitudinally with sunny gold. The alliance of foliage as decorative as an artemesia with fruit so vivaciously and decoratively striated is a bonified visual triumph, perfectly suited for a vertical focal point in the garden.

Out of the army of beautiful tomato varieties available to us today, I believe the best I can do in this volume is to offer up to the reader a brief, becoming range in terms of form, color and taste and, certainly, even an abbreviated list would not be complete without the fetching Green Zebra. This beautiful, 20th Century hybrid was developed by Tom Wagner of Tater Mater Seeds in 1985 and, as you might assume, it is both green and striated. Green Zebra’s lovely 3 ounce fruit are stripped from stem to base in complex shadings of yellow, amber, and deep green, and borne on handsome, indeterminate vines growing to 8 feet or more. I’m very fond of growing Green Zebra up a teepee with a medium yellow or red fruited variety like Garden Peach or Enchantment for nice color contrast .

Transplant 4 to 6 week old Green Zebra seedlings out into the garden in a well-mulched, sunny spot 2 weeks after your frost date and you should be harvesting these sweet, zingy beauties about 77 days from transplant. Considered a uniquely delicious salad tomato, Green Zebra’s light green flesh is exceptionally flavorful, with a nice balance of the sweet and the tart. As well, all tomatoes are excellent sources of Vitamins A and C, lycopene, beta-carotene, magnesium, and iron, so I suggest chopping up a basketful of these with some Vidalia onion, a jalapeno pepper, fresh cilantro, a shake of salt, and a squeeze of lime juice into a gorgeous green salsa.

I have a call to Richard Zondag of Totally Tomatoes to see if I can find more history on the "Peach" part of the name. I may have a long sleuth ahead of me.

Tom Wagner