Heirloom tomatoes, known for their diverse flavors and unique histories, are the featured plant of the month at UT Gardens for March. The tomato, Solanum lycopersicum, has its origins in western South America and was cultivated in Central America before being introduced to Europe in the 1500s. By the 1940s, hybrid varieties were developed to improve disease resistance and durability for commercial purposes, often at the expense of flavor.
Heirloom tomatoes differ from hybrids as they are open-pollinated and have seeds that produce plants true to their parent variety. These varieties have been passed down through generations for at least 50 years. Some experts consider only those developed before the widespread adoption of hybrids in the 1940s as true heirlooms.
Commercial seed companies played a significant role in developing early heirloom varieties. The Livingston Seed Company, founded by Alexander Livingston in 1850, introduced several notable types such as ‘Livingston’s Paragon’ in 1870 and others like ‘Golden Queen’, ‘Stone’, ‘Magnus’, and ‘Oxheart’ over subsequent decades.
Family heirlooms rely on traditions of seed saving and sharing. For example, ‘Cherokee Purple’ originated when a Sevierville resident received seeds from a neighbor whose family had obtained them from Cherokee Indians a century earlier. Craig LeHoullier later helped popularize this variety. Other Tennessee-related heirlooms include ‘Tennessee Britches’, ‘Spear’s TN Green’, and ‘Middle TN Low Acid’. Varieties such as ‘Mortgage Lifter’, ‘San Marzano’, and ‘Black Krim’ also perform well in East Tennessee.
Growing heirloom tomatoes requires full sun, organic soil amendments, proper staking, mulching, careful watering practices, and crop rotation to manage pests and diseases. Heirlooms can be more susceptible to disease than hybrids and may yield less fruit but offer a wide range of flavors depending on their acid and sugar content.
Jennifer Northam, collections manager at UT Gardens Knoxville, noted: “Heirloom tomatoes pack huge personalities filled with history, countless flavors depending on acid and sugar levels, and come in all kinds of shapes and colors. A single type of tomato can taste totally different from one person to another. The coolest part is whatever variety is favored it can be grown again with the preservation of the seeds and their stories.”
Visitors can find heirloom tomatoes growing at both UT Gardens locations in Knoxville and Crossville. Both sites will feature these plants during upcoming spring sales.
The UT Gardens operate sites in Knoxville, Crossville, and Jackson as part of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA). As Tennessee’s official botanical garden system, UT Gardens offers educational programs year-round free to visitors. More information is available on their website: utgardens.tennessee.edu.
UTIA includes multiple colleges focused on agriculture research and outreach across Tennessee communities through its land-grant mission.
