Ciao all,
Greetings from sunny California! I'm here visiting my mother for a few weeks. It's so surreal being here and seeing so many people in shorts and open sandals. The
plants in people's gardens are so totally different from what I've gotten used to in Toronto over the last 3 years, too.
We went to a few nurseries yesterday because my mother is involved in a non-profit project, donating several
plants to a group home for mentally-challenged adults. We're going over there later today to help with the planting. One of the garden centres, Orchard Supply Hardware, had several heirloom tomatoes for sale so I took pictures, lol. What a weirdo, eh? Taking pictures of nursery
plants, but I wanted to show my boyfriend when I get back to Toronto that places actually DO carry some heirlooms. John, for your benefit I'll list here what I found: Black Krim, Amish Paste, Big Rainbow, Brandywine (no specific strain listed), Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, Hawaiian Pineapple, and San Francisco Fog. I was really quite surprised and pleased that they had so many.
Pianolady, if I were you I'd look for a big monster pink heirloom. They're usually full of flavour and reasonably productive. Ask your nursery people for advice and like John says, maybe take notes on the varieties you find and post back here for opinions.
Buona fortuna,
Julianna