Green Zebra Tomato seedlings for 2015?

Hi all,

I'm calling on the collective knowledge of the board.

My local nursery (Platt Hill) isn't carrying green zebra seedlings this year and I'm having a heck of a time locating any nursery that is listing them as available via a google search.

Has anyone seen these anywhere this season? I'm willing to drive to any suburb or city neighborhood to obtain them!

Many thanks,
Kim

It looks like Teresa Brockman will have them at the Evanston Farmer's Market. Green zebra is one listed on their blog. Might be worth contacting to confirm and reserve.

There will be Green Zebra seedlings at the Peterson Garden Project Plant sale next weekend--PGP is a non-profit, 501(c)3 committed to promoting organic community gardening so all proceeds go towards their initiatives:

May 15, 2015 @ 12:00 pm – May 17, 2015 @ 4:00 pm
WHERE: PGP Learning Center
4642 North Francisco Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625

Plant List

Event Details

Hi- I had never heard of Platt Hill nursery before, and so I googled it. They are located in Bloomingdale and Carpentersville. I am sure you are nowhere near any of the possible places mentioned already. Are there any farmer's markets near you? If there is a Menards near you, I believe I have maybe seen Green Zebra there too, and Jewel and Home Depot also carry some heirlooms, and might be worth checking out. BTW- The Evanston market is opening tomorrow, and I just checked my emails, and and Henry's Farm is bringing mesclun and overwintered spinach. It is going to strange not seeing Henry there tomorrow. Hopefully he is having a good time in Japan. Henry's mesclun is always excellent. I came down with a bug while I was in New Orleans for jazzfest, and I have been living on soup for the last 10 days. Hopefully by tomorrow I will feel like eating salads and asparagus. I think my appetite is slowly coming back.

Thanks all for the replies thus far.

NFriday, I am in Elk Grove and will check my local Menards. I am however willing to drive to Evanston or into the city if I strike out.

Hi- You might also try Meijer's too. I just checked, and none of the farmer's markets near you open up until June, and so that is not a good option for you. Nichols comes to the Schaumburg farmer's market, and they might have Green Zebra, but their market does not open up until June 6. Hope this helps, Nancy

Leaning Shed Farm (aka the friendliest couple you may ever meet) usually have these. They sell plants and produce at the Green City Market. You might contact them first to see if they have these and ensure they bring some to the market.

http://leaningshed.com/

Hi- You might also try Whole Foods and maybe Mariano's. I could see Mariano's carrying heirloom tomato plants. Hope this helps, Nancy

Thanks Nancy. I struck out at Menards but Whole Foods in Schaumburg had a flat of them!

Hi- I am glad I was able to help. I just could not see you driving 20 miles to get a few tomato plants. You must really like them if you bought a whole flat. I've never planted Green Zebra in my garden, but I've bought them at the Evanston farmer's market when they were getting ready to close, and one of the growers had them reduce to 3 tomatoes for $1. They aren't bad, but there are other tomatoes that I like a lot better, such as sun gold, Brandywine, Juliet and red cherry. Are the green zebras low in acid? Thanks, Nancy

I have purchased seeds of GZ and they have been great growers so much so that mended up with something like 10 plants last
year and had way more GZ tomatoes the no needed. if in doubt grow your own.

NFriday, I shouldn't have been so brief in my update. They did have a full flat, but I only bought a couple of plants! In terms of taste, I find Green Zebras a little more tangy, so I think the acidity might be greater than your average red tomato.

mhill95149, I used to start all my tomatoes from seed, too. About a year ago I took another job that has me on the road for a lot of March and April, so my days of tending to a tray of home-sown starts are over. Now I have to hunt the varieties I want to grow via markets/nurseries!

Thanks again for all your help, LTHers! Now I am growing Green Zebra, Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, Pineapple, Carnival, and San Marzano in my three small plots! I'm looking forward to colorful caprese salads!

Kim

I like Green Zebra for adding some color and zing to a tomato salad with lots of different colored tomatoes.

I saw Green Zebras today at the Mother's Day plant sale at the entrance to the Logan Square blue line stop. Most of the seedlings are grown by Montalbano Farms, so you know the quality is excellent and the methods sound and healthy. Plus the proceeds support the wonderful Paseo Prairie Garden (site of the sale). Lots of other herbs, veggies, and perennials there as well. Highly recommended.

I was in the neighborhood yesterday, and so I stopped in at Anton's nursery to see what they had, and they had lots of Green Zebra. BTW, they are doing sewer work on Dempster right now, and they are working on the Dempster/Pitner area right now. I had problems turning onto Pitner to get to Anton's, and I was finally able to because somebody that was going East on Dempster, stopped to let me turn. I asked, and they told me they are working on two blocks of Dempster at a time, and so hopefully things will get better soon. They told me that this last week, they had Pitner closed off, because they were storing stuff in the street, and so business at Anton's was really slow for a few days. I was surprised how much business they had yesterday. Hope this helps, Nancy