Annuals for Sale

Dill is a classic warm season herb often paired with cucumbers and commonly used in yoghurt and oil-based salad dressings, among many other uses. Its feathery leaves can be used for several months, and then its beautiful yellow flowers can be used as garnish or put in salads. Its seeds can be used fresh or dried in salad dressings or in making dill pickles. Its flowers attract many insects, including many types of beneficial wasps.

Summer annual, grows to 3 feet. Flowers can be used fresh or dried for tea. Very ornamental.

Native to Bolivia where it is called Killi.  It is commonly eaten by the people there and used as a medicinal herb for gastrointestinal problems and liver ailments.  The leaves have a very pungent aroma similar to cilantro and can be used in salsa and other dishes where cilantro is used.

Beautiful dark purple leaves with bronze overtones and pale lavender-white flowers. Scent and taste are more subtle and delicate than sweet basil. Good for making basil vinegar to which it readily imparts its rich purple color.

An attractive, compact small-leafed bush basil. Ideal for container gardening or borders. Excellent for cooking or in salads. Retains sweet flavor after flowering.

A sturdy productive basil which looks like a Genovese type, but has a distinctive cinnamon flavor.  An extremely rare variety from Romania which has been in our collection since 1990, originally from the Seed Savers Exchange.

Large plant with purplish cast to foliage. Very aromatic anise-like fragrance and flavor. Excellent for culinary purposes. Seed from this strain originally from an Iranian visitor who brought it to this garden 15 years ago.

Huge 3- to 5-inch rumpled leaves. Japanese basil with a great flavor.

Huge wide leaves, twice as large as other Italian basils. A few leaves make a harvest. Leaves so large it is possible to stuff them like cabbage leaves.

A new fusarium wilt resistant basil!  Large leaf type for standard use and making pesto- almost identical to the Italian large leaf.  Leaves up to 4 inches long with sweet scent and flavor.  Height 24-30 inches.  

Popular pesto basil with a heady, spicy fragrance and taste. Uniform, tall and relatively slow to bolt with large dark green leaves about 2 to 3 inches long. Height 24 to 30 inches.

Ruffled Leaves smell of cloves and licorice. Striking color in the garden. Leaves are beautiful raw in salads or as a garnish. Height 16 to 20 inches.

Small dome-shaped plants with tiny leaves, much like Greek basil. Spicy, sweet basil flavor. Decorative plants can be grown in pots or used as border plants in garden.

A stunning apricot-shaded selection from the Pacific Beauty series.

Radio calendula was introduced to gardeners in the 1930’s and is now quite hard to find.  Beautiful orange flowers have quill-like petals.  Blooms all summer and winter long, is 18-24 inches tall, and is self-sowing.

Heirloom variety dating from 1880.  Plants produce heavy yields of small 6 inch long cucumbers, perfect for pickling.

Introduced in 1910 by Jerome Rice Seed Co. of Cambridge, New York, who described it as the earliest and best white spined cucumber ever offered. Fruits are 7 to 8 inches long by 2 inches in diameter. 

Heirloom introduced in 1894 in Pennsylvania.  Similar in size and appearance to a lemon, averaging 2 inches by 3 inches.  Once a well-established market variety in Australia.

Fruits are light green with darker striped ribs. Curls into snakelike shapes and can grow around 15 inches. Mild, delicious fruit are not a true cucumber but a melon. Originated in Armenia.

Uniform, straight, deep-green fruit, 8 inches long, 2 to 2 ½ inches in diameter. Well rounded at ends, white spined. Excellent for slicing, used for pickling when small. Vigorous, productive vine. Popular home garden cultivar. All American Selection winner in 1935.

Smooth, straight dark green fruit up to 18 inches long. Flesh is very crisp, tender and mild—superb flavor! Very few seeds. Vigorous, high yielding vines. Excellent English variety.

Long, slender lavender to purple fruits, up to 12 inches long, hang in clusters. Plants stand up well to heat and humidity. A Taiwanese heirloom which can produce up to 20 fruit per plant.

Can be made into small wren houses or purple martin houses or other whimsical objects.  Bottle neck shape 12 inches tall and 6 to 8 inches wide.  Vine will sprawl up to 25 feet.

Used in Peru for carving decorative bowls.  Produces attractive, round, flattened gourds 3 ½ to 5 inches deep and 6 to 12 inches in diameter.  Pleasingly proportioned.

An amazing gourd collection made up of small to medium-sized gourds coming in various solid and speckled, vibrant colors in a multitude of shapes:  stars, wings, acorns, mushrooms, necks, and more.

Also known as Dinosaur gourd.  Bizarre and wonderful, it looks like some disturbing alien weapon.  Originally from Zimbabwe, and used to make shekeres, a kind of musical instrument.

Gourds shaped like a penguin – great for craft people! 5 inches in diameter and 12 inches long.

Vigorous vines produce beautiful 4 to 6 lb. gourds whose green skin is overlaid with creamy speckles.  The large bases taper gracefully to slender swan-like necks.

A long, thin leek of the best quality. An OAEC favorite. Light green leaves. Popular variety in Europe.

Sometimes called Peruvian Black Mint (Tagetes minuta) this herb is central to much Andean cooking in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Chile. It is a tall (up to 4 feet) upright marigold with a taste like a mixture of basil, tarragon, mint and citrus. Huacatay paste is used to make the popular potato dish called ocopa. It has been used as a medicinal tea for colds, respiratory inflammations, and stomach problems.

The famous California heirloom, introduced in 1920 by Oliver Crane whose family has been farming near Santa Rosa for six generations. Delicious Crenshaw-type melons have pale orange flesh that is very sweet and fine flavored. Green skinned. Fruit 4 lbs.

A famous superb heirloom French melon. Super sweet and very fragrant. Very small melon.

Beautiful ivory-green fruit with very sweet flesh and classic honeydew flavor! A superb variety.

Well-netted, 3-lb. fruit with thick salmon-colored flesh. Sweet and of superb flavor. A good home and market variety. Resistant to powdery mildew.

Produces fine salad greens when young. Leaves are long, narrow, deeply cut, and ruffled. Quite beautiful! A favorite heirloom from the American South.

Deep, bright, golden yellow flowers held upward above the foliage. Height 10 inches. A great basket plant.

Standard heirloom dark green flat-leaved variety. Extremely sweet and tasty – much more flavorful than curly varieties.

Mildly hot pepper is great for roasting, frying and stuffing. Prolific bearer of 6 to 8 inch slender red fruits. 85 to 95 days.

The most popular chili in Mexico. Large, conical fruit up to 5 ¼ inches long. Deep dark green turning red at full maturity. Mildly pungent to hot. Widely used in chili rellenos.

Small 10 to 12 inch plants with purple and green foliage and upright fruiting habit. Tapered 1 ½ inch long fruits ripen from lavender to deep purple to orange and finally to red. Medium heat. Colorful ornamental very nice for containers. 60 to 75 days from transplant.

An heirloom which was introduced in 1900.  Large bells, 4-6 inches long and 4-5 inches across.  Dark green to red on compact 24 inch plants.

Pre-1870s African-American heirloom. Beautiful green and white variegated foliage on 18 to 24 inch plants. Pendant fruits 2 to 3 inches long ripen from cream with green stripes to orange with brown stripes to all red. Traditionally used in oyster and crab houses around Chesapeake Bay. Great for salsa. Medium hot.

Short, stocky 16 to 20 inch plants bear 4 to 6 inch upright, hot yellow fruits that ripen to brilliant orange red. Dependable and productive variety. 75 to 80 days. 

Blocky red fruits look similar to bell peppers when young. When green, quite hot, but mature to a sweet and crispy fruit. Seeds and attachments quite hot and spicy. Sprawling sub-shrub will bear for 15 years in mild climates.

Southwest favorite for stuffing (chile rellenos!), grilling, and roasting for stews and sauces. Flesh is thick and crisp with a delicious mild heat and rich chile flavor. Uniform 6 to 8 inch by 2-inch fruit ripen from bright green to mahogany to red. Medium tall plant. Very productive. 70 to 95 days. 

An heirloom variety that yields a nice, thick-walled pepper which is a deep, midnight eggplant kind of purple. Beautiful. Plants are compact. About 70 days.

The fruit of this jalapeno turns dark purple and stays that way for a long time before finally ripening to red.  Peppers larger than regular jalapeno, but have the same thick walls and fiery heat.  Attractive in salsas and as part of a pickled pepper mix.  

Traditional but hard to find, this large, succulent stuffing pepper is dependably mild. Broad-shouldered, 6 to 9 inch fruits taper to a blunt, rounded tip. Plant is 12 to 18 inches tall.

Fruit matures from green to a very attractive deep chocolate hue. Fruit incredibly sweet and are large, thick-walled and four-lobed. About 75 days.

Huge pumpkins can grow well over 100 lbs. Nearly round, bright orange fruit are stunning! Good for pies and canning. Thick orange flesh.

Originally from Australia over 150 years ago, this variety came to the U.S. in the early 1930’s.  Stunning, turban shaped fruit are light blue in color and weigh about 12 pounds.  The flesh is bright orange, sweet and good quality, and is fabulous for pies, baking, and soups.

Ivory, white-skinned smallish pumpkin with sweet orange flesh - very beautiful!  Great for baking and carving.

The whitest pumpkin. Medium-sized, flattened 11 to 15 inch diameter. Slightly ribbed with smooth white skin. Larger than Lumina. Thick orange flesh great for pies.

Not a true spinach, this succulent plant tolerates heat and keeps producing all summer.  One of our favorite sauté greens and summer salad ingredients.  Tastes similar to spinach.  Has a sprawling growth habit.

Famous Roman zucchini. Distinctive long fruit are fluted and ribbed—the cut slices are scalloped. Medium green striped skin. Rich and very flavorful, popular to fry with the flower still on.

The size, shape, and color of a lemon. Huge yields and very insect-resistant. Very tasty—great fried.

Rich dark green, round-shaped, and very flavorful. Vigorous plants produce well. Italian heirloom.

Bush plants produce extended crops of smooth light-yellow fruits with curved necks. Best eaten 5 to 6 inch long. Creamy-white sweet mild flesh has excellent flavor.

A large, good quality sunflower with orange/yellow petals and a dark, pollen-free disc. The classic sunflower depicted in Van Gogh’s famous sunflower paintings.

Beautiful double 3 to 6 inch golden-yellow blooms.  Great for cut flowers.  A favorite with children.  Plants grow only 18 to 24 inches tall.

Originally from Alan Chadwick. Naturalized for over 20 years at Mariposa Ranch. Wide green leaves with thin white stems. We have grown this variety, and saved seed on it, in the OAEC gardens since 1982

Rare heirloom variety. Prolific and productive. Small fruit, 1 to 1 ½ inches, with dark purple skin in paper husks. Sharper flavor than green tomatillos. Very sweet—makes an attractive purple salsa.

Medium-sized, good in cool areas. Potato-leafed variety. Alan Chadwick’s favorite red tomato variety.

Red cherry, very sweet, large size. Indeterminate. Named after the famous English gardener.

Pale pink, very productive.  Indeterminate.

This Russian variety produces fruits which tend to be misshapen, but their deliciousness more than makes up for their looks. The big, purplish-brown fruit have a rich, sweet, savory taste, great for fresh eating.

A large, globe shaped, purple-black fruit weighing 6-14 ournces.  Highly productive vines which ripen early in the season.  Has a fantastic taste with the perfect balance of acidity and sweetness.

This fine Russian variety is a beautiful, deep chocolate brown grape tomato with a sweet, rich, dark tomato taste. Very productive even in hot conditions.

Dark brown tomatoes are shaped like miniature pears and flavored with an excellent, rich taste. Potato-leafed plants produce an abundance of these beautiful 4- to 6-oz. fruit. Heirloom. Great as a fresh salad tomato.

Small,dark red-brown fruit with subtle striping. Great flavor.Indeterminate.

Indeterminate plants produce copious amounts of 12-ounce pink-black heart-shaped tomatoes.  Exceptionally rich, sweet complex flavors, typical of the best of the black tomatoes.  A good producer in cooler regions, as well as warm ones.

An absolute OAEC favorite. Gorgeous small mahogany fruit with sublime flavor. Extremely productive.

Brown-colored, three-lobed, medium-sized fruit with green streaks and almost hollow core.

A variety of heirloom tomato created from the Cherokee Chocolate variety by collector Craig Le Houllier in 1997. Plants produce large, 12-16 oz beefsteak tomatoes that are amber green with a yellowish hue when ripe. This is one of the best tasting, most flavorful of all the green tomatoes.

An unusual heirloom grown by the Amish since the 1930’s.  Huge golden-yellow beefsteak tomatoes have a delicious fruity flavor with few seeds.  1 to 2 pound fruit mature earlier than some others of its type, and may feature a pink blush on the blossom end.  Very vigorous plants.

This excellent red slicing tomato was bred especially for French markets where flavor standards are exceptionally high. This beautiful, slightly flattened tomato has a great sweet/acid balance that few modern tomatoes can match. The plants produce 6 oz. juicy fruits that are meaty and deep red in hue. Good disease resistance.

Heirloom from New Zealand which produces attractive, orange, 2-3-inch globes, which are smooth-textured, sweet and tangy. Fruits are resistant to cracking, blossom end rot, and fruit diseases

Heirloomfrom the Black Sea of Russia. One of the best blacks. Plum-shaped6-oz. fruits.

Very large, oxheart shape. Superb taste. A favorite of many.

Uniform golden-orange globes are smooth and uniform, with a rich, full tomato flavor, both sweet and tangy.  Productive vines yield abundant 8 to 10 ounce fruit.  Great fresh or in sauce.

A reliable, early-maturing, standard processing tomato that matures loads of fruit all at the same time. A very dependable producer even in cold or coastal areas—great for canning. Very firm and flavorful 3-4 oz. fruits on compact, upright determinate plants.

Vine can grow up to 15 feet tall! Needs to be trellised. Produces enormous yields – up to 3 bushels per plant. Tomatoes are rich red, meaty, and large.

As bright as orange juice and nearly as sweet and flavorful. Huge fruit easily attain 4-5 inches. Strong indeterminate plant.

Bright yellow 4- to 5-oz. beefsteak. Very productive. Fantastic flavor.

A beautiful, egg-shaped tomato decorated with mottled pink skin. Inside it has a deep pink color and a sweet fresh flavor. The fruits are elongate cherry tomatoes produced in long tresses. Has attractive, lacy foliage.

The favorite red variety of Janet Brown, Marin County tomato-grower extraordinaire. She got this variety from Maria Dondero, an elderly Italian gardener neighbor and friend who brought it over from the Old Country and grew it for 50 years. Very early!

A very rare tomato which produces delicious one-pound uniform fruit that are dark purplish-pink in color with green shoulders.  Very productive.

Germanheirloom. Baseball-sized black fruit with excellent, full flavor.Very productive and blemish-free.

Golden-orange, 2 to 4 inches long, pointed. One of the best tasting pastes, good for slicing. High yield. Indeterminate.

Black flesh,sublime earthy taste. Many people report that this is their favorite blacktomato.

Medium-sized fruit are very flavorful and rich. Nicely shaped, deep dark black-red in color. Certainly one of the tastiest black tomatoes you’ll ever eat!

Bright, canary-yellow 3-inch fruit looks just like a fresh lemon! Collected by Kent Whealy of the Seed Savers Exchange from an elderly seedsman at the Bird Market in Moscow. Delicious, sweet taste.

Small tomato from the Punta Banda Peninsula in Baja, California. Very productive. Great variety for dry farming. Great for making paste and for drying. Very productive!

Beauteous, ribbed fruit. Old Italian heirloom. Great flavor. Very rare.

A great choice for container gardening. The red fruit is tiny, and so is the plant – the plant is only a foot tall and is loaded with flavorful red fruit the size of marbles.

Originally from Germany. Attractive, uniform and crack resistant, purplish-brown fruit have darker streaks in the flesh, and are large in size. Earlier than some of the other black varieties. Very rich earthy sweet and spicy flavor- one of the best!

Russian heirloom variety with potato-leafed foliage. Bears blackish-redbeefsteak fruit that are sweet yet acidic, with a rich and complexflavor.

Early, tasty, potato-leafed, from Czechoslovakia. Good in cool weather.

Large, early tomato. Thick-skinned, fleshy 6- to 8-oz. fruit.

Greek heirloom with wonderful mild flavor – will take you back to those fabulous fresh tomato salads you so adored in sunny Greece. Nicely uniform baseball-sized fruit.

A fantastic cross between Black Krim and Zapotec Pink Pleated tomatoes.  Large indeterminate plants yield gorgeous 8 – 10 ounce brilliant garnet purple pleated fruit.  Sweet, meaty, well-balanced flavor – one of the best tasting of the black varieties.  Makes a great purple tomato sauce.

Named for the beautiful yellow Topaz stone, this Chinese introduction is a sparkling yellow 1 to 3 ounce fruit with golden speckles.  Mild tasting and firm, it is great for shucking and salads.

A curious tomato, which produces 2 – 3 inch cream-colored fruit with light yellowish-green stripes.  Nice, sweet tomato flavor.  75 – 80 days.

Impressive cousin of Red Mortgage Lifter. Heavy yields of 1-lb., 4-inch yellow beefsteak fruit with red/pink streaks in the center. Mild, fruity flavor.

A brilliant yellow version of the Red Reisentraube. A fantastic grape tomato which grows in profuse clusters. Even sweeter and more delicious than the red one.

Very rare variety from the Zapotecs of Southern Mexico. Deeply pleated dark-red to pink fruits with rich, earthy flavor. Delicious and excellend stuffed, baked, or sliced. Indeterminate.

The cape gooseberry, or goldenberry, is grown for its delectable fruit, and is found in markets from Venezuela to Chile. It is not a true gooseberry but is in the tomato family. Cape gooseberry is a shrubby perennial which if planted in a frost-free location will persist or come back from its roots year after year.

Round fruits up to 8 to 10 inches in diameter. 4 to 10 lbs. Pale green skin with dark stripes. Sweet white flesh, exceptional flavor. Does well in cool places. Brought to Saskatchewan by Russian immigrants.

Legendary watermelon originally from Tennessee. Medium sized oval dark green fruit are covered with pea-sized bright yellow “stars” and usually one larger “moon.” Fruits have pink sweet flesh and brown seeds.

Very Sweet, bright yellow flesh is of excellent quality. Fruits are small at
6 to 10 lbs. and perfect for a small family.

Kabocha-type dark green flat-round buttercup type fruits. Very dry and sweet orange flesh. Used in Asian cuisine.

Dark green, blocky 3 to 5 lb. fruit with deep orange fiberless flesh - sweet rich flavor.

Sweet, orange moist flesh great for baking and soups. Pink salmon colored fruit covered with peanut-like warts—great for decoration in the fall. Fruits weigh between 10 to 20 lbs.

Pale, slate blue 8-lb. fruit with thick orange flesh - great flavor.

Pale yellow oval fruit with stringy sweet yellow flesh which can be used as a substitute for pasta.

Elongated butternut-like fruit up to 12 lbs.  Fine flavor - very sweet.