By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

I stopped to visit Dawn Van Allen, the owner of The Garden nursery in Pomona last week.  (Those of you with long memories may know Van Allen from when she worked for Heard's Country Gardens in Westminster.)  I was rather stunned to hear Van Allen not only grows all the tomatoes she sells at the nursery on the premises, she grows up to 300!!! varieties per year.  Naturally that led to a long talk about tomatoes.  Here's some of the things I learned:

The single-serving tomatoes you see at farmer's markets are most likely 'Dona' or 'Carmello.'  "They're the size people like, they're always tasty, and they're easy to grow," says Dawn.

The winner in The Garden's tomato-tasting festival in the cherry tomato category 10 years straight has been 'Sun Gold' (shown opposite.)  Last year it took the best of show as well as best of class, she says.   Runner-up in the cherry tomato category, 'Juliette.'

The tomato you can grow no matter how small your garden -- 'Tiny Tim'. Gets no more than a foot tall and can stay in its 4-inch pot all season, says Dawn.  The tomatoes are teeny, too, of course -- "bigger than a dime but smaller than a quarter", she says -- but tasty.

The most drought-tolerant tomato she knows -- 'Thessalonki'.

Her favorite sandwich tomato -- 'Kellog Breakfast'.  "The outside is yellow and the inside is red, which is pretty," she says, "but even nicer all the seeds are at the edges, which means the slices don't make your bready soggy."

Her favorite yellow tomato -- 'Pineapple.'   "Also my favorite heirloom."

Her favorite black tomato -- 'Black Sea Man'  "It has very dark shoulders and a red body, and it's very sweet and juicy."  (Shown opposite)

Most impressive on a platter -- 'Bullsheart'.  "You get these big, heart-shaped slices which are very decorative."  'Bullsheart' is also a good one to grow if you want to win in the largest tomato category at a show, she adds.

Her favorite source for finding new tomato seeds -- Victory Seed Company in Willamette Valley, Oregon. 

My favorite names from Victory Seed's list of new tomato varieties for 2009:  A tie between 'Anna Maria's Heart', and 'Fioletovyi Krugyi'.

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