Park's Guide to Heirloom Tomatoes

If flavor is what you're after, heirloom tomatoes are the way to go. They haven’t been bred to hold up in a shipping truck or sit on a grocery store shelf, they’ve been passed down through generations because they taste incredible and grow well in home gardens.

Starting them from seed gives you a lot more variety to choose from than you’ll find in a garden center. You can grow tomatoes that are striped, deep purple, bright orange, or shaped like little pumpkins. Some are sweet, some are rich and tangy, and all of them actually taste like tomatoes should.

A lot of gardeners grow heirlooms because they want something real, tomatoes with history and flavor. When you grow them from seed, you also get to raise them your way, right from the start. You’ll know what kind of soil they’re in, how they’re watered, and what they’ve been exposed to. And if you find one you love, you can save the seeds and plant it again next season.

I always start heirloom tomatoes from seed, mostly because I can never find the varieties I want as transplants. Plus, starting from seed gives me a longer harvest and stronger plants.

Below, you'll find some of our favorite heirloom tomato varieties. These are the ones we come back to year after year because they’re reliable in the garden and unforgettable on the plate.

Tomato Costoluto Genovese 78 days. For intense tomato bite with a high acidic content, there is no better variety than this splendid Italian heirloom, probably dating from the early 1800s. The fruit is deeply lobed and irregular, but the flavor is unbelievable -- no modern hybrid can equal it! A good choice for warm climates, it thrives in summer heat and then continues setting new fruit well into the cooler fall days.

Tomato Big Rainbow Gigantic 2-pound Fruit! 90 days. This heirloom is a pleasure to watch grow, as it turns from a green-shouldered, yellow-centered, red-bottomed young fruit to a mature gold-and-red sunset of color. Absolutely enormous, it reaches 2 pounds before you know it and has a flavor as over-the-top as its size and parade of colors. Resistant to foliar diseases, it keeps producing until frost.

Tomato Heirloom Blend 75-100 days. The best mix of Heirloom Tomatoes ever assembled! You get 6 distinctively different indeterminate varieties: Aunt Ruby’s German Green, a chartreuse 12- to 16-oz. beefsteak; Big Rainbow, a gold-and-red fruit up to 2 lbs.; Tomato Black from Tula, a flattened dark brown to purple fruit, 8 to 12 oz., a rich smoky flavor; Brandywine Red, a deep red up to 2 lbs.; Cherokee Purple, a purple/pink/brown combo on 10- to 12-oz. flattened fruits; and Dixie Golden Giant, an enormous golden-yellow slicer up to 2½ lbs. with sweet mild flavor.

Tomato Pineapple 85-95 days. The tastiest heirloom tomato our Director of Seeds has ever sampled, this American classic is a large beefsteak type, weighing up to 2 pounds. Colored a rich yellow-gold and often boasting red stripes, this colossal tomato is sweet and fruity with a tangy, meaty afterbite. Few seeds and more solids give you an extra bite or two. Dependably high-yielding plants.

Tomato Brandywine 80 days. These favorite yields deeply lobed purplish-red fruit that is surprisingly large--12 ounces or more--and no two will look exactly alike. Attention-getting, distinctive, and tried-and-true, Brandywine is truly a classic!

Tomato Moneymaker Organic 75-80 days from setting out transplants. Indeterminate. You will love the look as well as the flavor of this heavy-yielding Tomato, which thrives in hothouses in Britain but loves our warmer summers here in the U.S.!

Tomato Cherokee Purple Organic 80 days from setting out transplants. Indeterminate. A beloved heirloom as valuable for its flavor as it is for its unusual look, Cherokee Purple sets giant beefsteaks weighing about a pound and filled with intense violet-purple hues.

Tomato Kellogg's Breakfast Organic 80 days from setting out transplants. Indeterminate. Recently named one of the best heirloom tomatoes by the food editors of Sunset magazine, Kellogg's Breakfast is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Originally bred in Michigan by a gardener named Kellogg, it is absolutely unique, both for its size and for its bold golden skin and juice, exactly the color of fresh-squeezed orange juice!

Ready to Grow Your Own Heirloom Tomatoes?

There’s a reason so many home gardeners keep coming back to heirloom tomato seeds. You get better flavor, more variety, and a real connection to what you’re growing. Starting from seed gives you the best shot at a strong, productive plant, and a harvest that tastes like summer. Take a look at our collection of heirloom tomato seeds and find a few that speak to you. There’s nothing like picking a ripe tomato you started from seed and knowing exactly what went into it.

Start with Seeds You Can Trust

At Park Seed, every heirloom tomato seed we offer is non-GMO, carefully selected, and backed by generations of growing experience. These are varieties we grow ourselves, season after season, because they deliver in flavor, in yield, and in the simple joy of growing something real. Start your tomatoes from seed this season and taste the difference for yourself.