Preserved by families, collected by seed savers, passed around among farmers, heirloom tomatoes are now being sought out by more and more home gardeners as an alternative to the bland sameness of commercial hybrids. And happily, these growers are discovering that heirlooms are not only vastly more flavorful, but are just as hardy and easy to cultivate as the hybrids.

Dr. Carolyn J. Male, who has raised more than a thousand heirloom tomatoes, here presents 100 consistently top-performing varieties for North American gardeners. There are red tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, green, orange, purple, and even black tomatoes--like Black from Tula, with green shoulders and a dusky rose-black coloring. There are cherry tomatoes, too--try Martino's Roma, a paste with spectacular yield and built-in tolerance of blossom end rot. For every gardener, no matter how experienced, here's everything you need to know to grow and harvest tomatoes with real taste.

Carolyn J. Male, Ph.D., is a professor of microbiology at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. She is also a major voice on AOL's tomato forum, and an author whose articles appear in Kitchen Gardening, The American Cottage Gardener, and The Historical Gardener. Dr. Male scientifically--and lovingly--has raised more than a thousand different varieties of heirloom tomatoes in her zone 5 garden in upstate New York.