Floranova

Floranova- A breeder from across the pond continues to become more relevant in new introductions each year.  They were the first to focus the industry on the promotion of vegetables in containers and this year the have added some fun new items to their collection.

Tomato Cherry Falls- Floranova is the breeder of the Tumbling Tom series and this new line of the Falls are trailing as well, but the size and quantity of the tomatoes are both significantly increased.    Fruits are ~1.25" in size. I snuck a sample and it was very tasty.

Tomato Sunset Falls- This will be a Ball Seed Exclusive.  This is different that the other new trailing intro of trailing tomatoes, Sunset Falls has more of a plum shape and has a very cool yellowish/ orange vertical striping of the skin. The color pattern gives it the look of the heirloom variety, Red Zebra, but with all the benefits of a hybrid, plus it trails!  It looks to have less fruit than the abundance that Cherry Falls has, but the striping pattern makes up for any loss in production.  I know there is a sign that tells you explicitly not to eat, but that is like telling me not to breathe... I snuck another sample, and it too was tasty,

Tomato Mega Bite-  This was a last year intro for a 2" determinant growth tomato.  Perfect for 12-14" containers. Plus they were promoting customers to sample this one, so I felt obliged to try this :)  Nice flavor, very meaty flesh with not to much seed juice.

Pepper Basket of Fire-  This is the first trailing chili pepper. Along with the culinary use of this variety the peppers change color while maturing, so you get a great basket of 4-5 different colors.  Floranova introduced 2 other trailing peppers this year, but this was the most interesting.  Did not sample this.  I like spicy Indian and Thai food, but can't handle hot peppers by themselves.

Corn Field of Dreams- This was a late intro this winter and seed is available to ship and there is plenty of time for a crop of this due to is super fast grow time.  1 seed per 4", 3 seed per gallon. The corn has a variegated green/white/pink leaves, and the tassels and corn are a dark burgundy.  The height an growth is reminiscent of the original Purple Majesty Millet (4'-6' garden height).  This is a good large combo item or use as a height element in a landscape bed.

Now that I am finished blogging about the Floranova stop, I am shocked that the ratio of the square foot of the display greenhouse we toured and the size of my post. You could attribute this depth to my love of food, but it is also fun to see new innovative products, and Floranova had a lot of them.

Food: 1 Cherry Falls Tomato, 1 Sunset Falls Tomato, 1 Mega Bite Tomato & some salsa made from their assortment of vegetables.