I was heading to the orange store one Sunday & decided to stop here remembering Sunday only. I'm glad I did. Parking is challenging. I got lucky. Quite the variety, some never heard of, some I've already tried. Every plant out looked healthy. I like how everything has a picture, description and short story. I did wish everything said determinate or indeterminate. A little time with google got it figured out. Laurel is a friendly character. No snobby attitude or I know more than you garbage. She gets on the walkie to call a helper with the heavy lifting. Maybe next year I'll get all of my plants here. Some places sell diseased plants, hoping for the best, time will tell. read more

I have already reviewed once, but I had always remembered that Laurel claimed on her website that Jutland is "the best dang tomato for BLT's". I tend to think whatever Laurel says is gospel. Although we have terrible summer weather alternating between punishing rains & heat, I finally got my first Jutland BLT sandwich and was inspired to get right on my computer and confirm that this is absolutely true! Waiting for more varieties, but sungolds are always great and plain on keeping Foxy Lady black cherry will always be in my garden. Have to hand it to Laurel for keeping us supplied with best variety of tomatoes. They cost something for shipping but they arrive in excellent condition every time. read more

We've been getting our tomatoes from Laurel for 16 years. amazing lady. amazing plants. 100% recommend. read more

Laurel's Heirloom Tomato Plants - Nurseries & Gardening Near Me - Lomita, California

We picked up a few tomato plants from Laurel over the weekend. She is very knowledgeable about tomatoes, asking where we planned to plant them and gave tips. Super helpful and friendly. Would definitely suggest getting your tomatoes here! read more

Laurel's Heirloom Tomato Plants - Rapunzel and Black Cherry - Nurseries & Gardening Near Me - Lomita, California

This is the best place to buy tomatoes. Laurel is awesome to work with and I can hardly wait to place my next order. read more

Laurel's Heirloom Tomato Plants - This is just from one day of picking tomatoes. - Nurseries & Gardening Near Me - Lomita, California

Large variety of tomatoes. Have ordered for several years and have never been disappointed when they arrived. Switched from growing in soil to hydroponics and they accommodated my order. read more

Got my plants last week. not yet in the ground. As always, excellent support from Laurel and her team. bought amendments this time. Can't wait to watch them grow. got to fight the pests though... read more

Laurel's tomatoe plants are consistently strong plants. She knows her product and if you follow her suggestions, you'll eat delicious garden and sun ripen tomatoes. read more

I really like tomatoes, especially heirloom tomatoes. Everyone always says that homegrown tomatoes are the best, so last year I decided to grow heirloom tomatoes. Finding these are not easy. The local nurserys rarely carry them, and if they do it is only for a weekend or two. Another option is to find when a local nursery is holding a Tomatomania festival and you have to line up and fight with everyone for whatever heirlooms they have. I wanted a better option. So, I was searching around and found Laurels. I had no idea what I wanted, so I called and let her pick out a variety for me. It is best if you call early (like November) for best selection. Varieties do sell out, some very fast. You can expect to pick them up in April or May. She also ships them nationwide. You will get small plants (about 6" high) that are ready to plant. She runs the business out of a house. So, you really need to call before you go over. The back yard of this place is wall to wall tomato plants. She does a huge business and has hundreds of different varieties for sale. She is very friendly and knowledgeable and can tell you exactly how to grow great tomatoes. My tomato plants all did well last year and I got the best tasting tomatoes I have ever eaten in my life. I learned a lot and this year is going to be even better. This year, I am planting Goose Creeks, Paul Robesons, Purple Hazes, Boxcar Willies, Isis Candies, Persimmons, and Ildis. This is a great mix of purple, brown, red, yellow and green tomatoes. For those not in the know, there are hundreds of varieties of Heirlooms. Most of them have interesting names with quite a history. The general rule is that the seeds have to be from a very old line, before the creation of the bland tasting hybrids there are today. Some families passed seeds down from generation to generation, hence the name. These are some of the best tasting tomatoes you will ever have. If you are going to plant tomatoes, why not plant good tomatoes. In Heirlooms, there are so many different tastes, styles and sizes. Laurel can guide you to exactly what you need. read more

Laurel's Heirloom Tomato Plants - Nurseries & Gardening Near Me - Lomita, California

I first discovered heirloom tomatoes just stumbling onto Laurel's website on the internet. It has been years, now. I nursed my husband through his several years of final illness and during that time, he sat in a chair and watched me as I rejoiced over, planted, nurtured, and harvested the unusually beautiful plants that came from Laurel's Heirloom Tomato Plants. When the first Cherokee Purple was ripe, I was excited to make him a tomato sandwich with one sumptuous slice that covered the whole piece of bread (open-faced sandwiches). Fifty years previous to this we courted and spent many late summer suppers eating tomato sandwiches on a slice of buttered homemade bread. At the first bite of this new Cherokee P., he grinned and let me know it was the best tomato he had ever tasted. Because we both grew up on farms that raised tomatoes, this was an amazing statement! Laurel's tomato plants are perfect, hardy, carefully shipped in a timely manner, and they thrive once planted! So over the years I have carefully ordered Laurel's tomatoes. I must say I have never, ever had any problem ordering from her. Careful and courteous ordering and communicating yields the very same in return. She is on top of things. She is a leader. She is a marketing and gardening genius. Her tomatoes are worth every penny spent on them. I have tried a year or two not ordering from her, and my results have been less than I liked. Laurel is the best!!!!! and her tomatoes, too! read more

Big Fan! The first time I bought from her my tomatoes overwintered for 3 years. I was ordering from her and picking up. My orders were on the porch when I would come by. Now I go to her Sunday Sales. All the tomatoes I buy from her are superior to my local nursery. ‍ read more

I love Laurel's tomatoes and her expert knowledge. She thinks of everything to help you succeed with heirloom tomatoes. I highly recommend Laurel's as the place to get your tomatoes year after year. read more

This is the second year that I have ordered plants from Laurel the RUDE Tomato Lady. I was a first time customer and spent $136 on tomato starts with out shipping! I had called and emailed the first year but she kept changing when I could pick up the plants. I wanted to get my garden going and could not wait any longer. Laurel was so rude the first year because I went there on the wrong day. I would hope that Laurel would be polite enough to give me my plants and explain her schedule. Instead she snapped at her mother (she works with Laurel) when her mom offered to help me, then she fairly threw the plants and me and hustled me to my car. And it was not the full order! Wow, what a trip. All of this abuse, just for some tomato starts. After that encounter I wrote her an email to say that I thought that she was overworked, maybe was having a bad day. She wrote back to say that was the case and she was going to slow down a little. OK. I tried it again...I made an order in November 2010 for pick up in spring of 2011. I ordered and paid in advance. ($88 bucks for tomatoes!) Along with the tomato starts (6-4" plants) I ordered boxes of fertilizer and a cloth pots. She emailed me and told me approx. time when I could pick up the plants. The problem is- 1) The pick up times are useless, because you must wait for confirmation from her to proceed. And even if you go on the correct day your plants may not be ready. Calling her requires repeated calls because he phone messages are full. And it takes days to get a response from your email queries. 2) Laurel ships to the whole country so she has to consider all zones for planting. This is her issue. I don't care to line up according to her other orders. Especially since I (over) paid for them so far in advance! I'm in LA so our planting time is in late March early April. This is my issue, I just want my plants when the earth is ready for them. Cut to- I call her in the morning, I email her. No response. This is Los Angeles, we have passed our cold snap and I would like to start my garden. So I make the trek out to Lomita. She is even ruder than the year before, if that is possible. I tell her that I called and emailed. But she is very brusque and slams the door in my face abruptly cutting off my response to her snarky remark about the being the wrong day and that she is very busy. She then barks at the poor girl that works for her to pull my order and tries to tell the girl not to give me a chair while I wait... And again I do not get my full order, Double Wow!! Bottom line she is churlish and unbelievably rude to paying customers, her staff and family members. I (over) paid in advance and tried to make it work. Sorry that my schedule does not synch up to hers. I can only work on my garden in fits and spurts. Gardening is a hobby that should be fun. I cannot wait at Laurels leisure or be concerned with her business schedule protocol. So I set out to find another source for heirloom tomato starts in the Los Angeles area. The LA County Arboretum Gift Shop (626-447-8751) has an heirloom tomato (4" starts $2.50 a piece) sale every March. I went April 4th and they still had a good selection. They have a wide variety of heirloom tomato plants, locally grown, with manager Mark Hall leading a knowledgeable staff. You can buy plants and organic fertilizer without going on the grounds so you don't have to pay to get in (unless you would like to donate). I will be posting more information regarding Heirloom Tomato resources in the Southern California. I'm sure that Laurel will try to rebut this comment. So Laurel, please try to understand that everyone cannot be on your schedule, sorry. A customer paying almost 4 times the amount for a tomato start is plenty reason to be polite. When Mother Nature is ready for planting she is not concerned with your business schedule protocol. I will try to save the seeds this year in an effort NOT to do business with you and I am actively looking for other sources of heirloom tomato starts in Los Angeles. I will prove that you are not the only Tomato game in town. read more

Family operation I went during the few hours they are open to the public (otherwise by mail) Insane good stuff very easy and good value they do gods work of beautiful tomatoes oh their web site is a joy to read read more

I ordered four tomato plants from here and asked to pick it up on the weekend, said I'll pay cash when I arrive. When I got there on Saturday it was at a house than a business, so she does this from her backyard. I knocked on the door, Laurel answered and forgot about my order. She told me to wait and brought back four different plants than I ordered, I told her these were not right and she said "well first come, first serve." I explained that I spoke to her on tuesday, she said she never talked to me and has no history of it and that she would've wrote it down. She went to the back for a bit and came back, said it'll be $25, I gave her the money, she literally snatched it from my hand. Then a Hispanic lady brought four plants. Two of the plants she brought looked good, nice and healthy, but the other two had black spots on them so I asked if I can get healthier ones, she replied "man you are one picky kid." She then turned to the lady and started screaming at her, pointing at the spots and blaming her, it was very uncomfortable. She threw one of the plants out the backdoor and went to the back, came back with two other plants, one of which still had some black spots, but she said they'll go away, don't worry. I'm a nice guy so I still said thank you and she just slammed the door on me, no reply. I moved to CA from GA about a year and a half ago and stay with my grandparents, these were for my grandma's garden, this had to be the rudest, worst experience I had since I came here (and I intern at a law office, I meet a lot of angry people). My grandma planted the tomato plants, the black spots spread to the others, and we had to throw away all of them and isolate the area so the disease doesn't spread to the rest of the garden. I do not recommend this place to anyone. read more

I have been buying tomato plants from Laurel for the past 15 years and she is absolutely wonderful! She has wonderful varieties and we try new ones every year. Our plants arrive carefully packed and ready to pop into the ground. We get a bountiful harvest every year. Home grown tomatoes -- nothing in the world like homegrown tomatoes. Only two things that money can't buy, and that's true love and homegrown tomatoes (Guy Clark). Buy from Laurel. You won't be sorry. Donna Flynn read more

My 2018 tomato plants arrived looking beautiful. Going to be another delicious Summer and Fall.

Can consistently count on getting high quality, organically raised, disease-free, heirloom plants. Love the selection every year. We're lucky to have one of the nation's best heirloom tomato plant nurseries so close by. read more

Regardless to the quality of the tomatoes I purchased, my experience with Laurel's Heirloom Tomato Plants was terrible. Take your pick between denial of responsibility, an abysmal invoicing system, and a reckless abuse of my credit card. She was just as rude as others have previously indicated. 1. I ordered 4 tomato plants on March 25, 2013 totaling $36. On my invoice it was stated PAID and TO SHIP on April 8th or 9th. I live in LA, and the mail takes one to two days to deliver time max. 2. The plants did not arrive. I gave it another ten days before calling on April 17th, assuming that the plants were lost in the mail. I wrote a polite email and left a voicemail the same day saying as much - and i did not place blame. 3. Another week passed. No reply to either my email or my phone call. 4. The following week, Sunday April 19th, I called Laurel's office 3 times in a row until I finally got her. She was a jerk, curt and rude, I was polite. When she finally found my invoice, she quickly realized her mistake, apologized and said the plants would go out Monday April18th and I would receive the plants on Thursday April 26th (20 days later than they were supposed to arrive in the first place). 5. The plants didn't arrive. That meant that the plants didn't ship on th at Monday. The USPS label was emailed to me on the day it was created, which shipped two days later than promised. 6. I checked my credit card that Thursday, and discovered that Laurel's Heirloom charged me $232.70. I was shocked, so I called her, and again politely asked her about this mistake. She denied she made the charge. In fact, she accused me of lying. I was very calm with her on the phone. Finally she discovered that she "accidently" charged my credit for another persons order, made by a chef in Michigan. She promised to credit me back immediately, by Saturday at the latest. She also thanked me for being patient and not yelling at her - interesting comment, one might assume she makes these mistakes often, n'est pas? 7. On Saturday April 26, the day that my tomatoes actually arrived, I was still without a credit for the charge. The same day I received two frantic calls from Laurel saying she never charged me the $232.70 so she was going to charge me another $232.70 for the credit she issued. That day, my credit card was charged $232.70 twice, for an order that wasn't mine totaling $465.40. 8. Monday April 28th a credit came through on my account, for $232.70, but so did another charge for $232.70. By my count, four mistakes on Laurels part. I finally gave her a good telling off, mostly because my credit card was at her mercy and she was blatantly thieving from my account! 9. May 1st. and I am still waiting for a credit for the second $232.70 for an order that was never mine in the first place. She should be ashamed, totally and utterly. Needless to say, rudeness and shipping delays aside, what kind of business owner charges patrons large sums for orders that were never theirs, but also has no way to track these credit card charges? Her office and billing management is reckless to say the least. If you read the negative reviews on Dave's Garden you will see Laurels's replies where she refuses to take the blame and also indicates she cannot find problem customers in her system. I am not a problem customer. I was a model customer until she pushed me past my limit by charging an egregious amount of money and then totally denying it! All this reiterates the simple facts that for such a busy woman (who apparently gets 300 emails a day, which seems like too many to bother responding to unless they come with a credit card) she needs lots of accounting, invoicing and shipping assistance. I find her business practice to be sloppy and lazy on the paper trail side. I will say that the plants I ordered were well packed, but come on, the prices for shipping alone are insane so they better be packed well, but again, a $20 shipping charge for 5 tiny plants? That is the price of doing business with her. Maybe if you order from her you'll get lucky one year and not have a problem but you might not be so lucky the next. I for one will never order from her again. I will get Heirloom Tomato Plants elsewhere. There are tons of options for getting heirlooms tomatoes and Laurel is not the only game in town. *****Update October 7th, 2013. My plants didn't produce hardy abundant tomatoes. You could ask anyone that knows me to testify I did everything to ensure success. Everything. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY OR TIME ON THIS COMPANY. read more

After two seasons of disappointing results with Heirloom Tomatoes I decided to go to the top of the tree, and consult Laurel! She deserves a laurel wreath for all she knows about Heirloom Tomatoes, and how to grow them! For sale in the limited time period at her home was a copious array of healthy looking specimens, and associated growing products. Laurel had great advice, was fun to deal with and her associates most helpful. Dreaming about summer and those multicolored lush tomatoes. read more

My family for generations, grew just about everything in our garden in CA, including tomatoes. This Laurel person knows what she's doing. Her plants and her planting advice are/is solid. This place is a real resource in these days of flavorless, mass produced, GMO garbage in the stores and the same for plants at corporate-chain nurseries. Most "garden centers" are staffed by clerks who might as well be selling furniture for what they know. It's a niche business and in my experience, the best in SoCal for heirlooms. Never had an order or attitude problem with this place but then I'm married to a New Yorker. That said, no one's always in a good mood or infallible. Reliable advice and quality product trump though, to me. Recently went to Armstrong for a pitchfork which they didn't carry, they said, condescendingly, "...because in these foothills, it's so rocky that when you put it into the ground you just hit boulder and bend the tines." Yeah, if you use a PITCHFORK for doing SPADE work. I was embarrassed for the guy, not to say annoyed that they didn't carry a basic composting implement like a pitchfork. The complaints here and elsewhere about Laurel's seem reasonable enough but are vastly outnumbered by positive ones. Most of my gardener friends think it's a find for people who want solid know-how and real product. Also: note that the negative reviews are folks who haven't written a lot of reviews. NPR recently ran a piece about Yelp noting that when the majority of responses are positive and a few negatives/people who haven't written many reviews (good or bad), the message is that the place is probably legit. read more

The ordering was super easy, even though I placed one order as a gift to ship to Maine, and one group order to ship to my office in Berkeley. I kept only one of the tomato plants, and though it was just a little guy at arrival, they were obviously high quality plants. The 4 plants that shipped to Maine fared very well on their trip, and have settled in nicely into the gardens there. I kept one plant from the 7 that shipped to my area, and the rest were given to friends and family. My tomato is a beautiful plant (grown in an up-side down hanger) that has just started to ripen. I have already sampled some tomatoes from family in slightly warmer climates. The informational sheets were very helpful for friends who were first time growers, and there was only one fatality (due to lack of water and not plant quality). The staff was very helpful in recommending shipping time frames, but maybe a bit on the cautious side. When I order next year, I will go a bit earlier to both Berkeley and Maine. read more

My experience with Laurel was not very favorable. I ordered my plants in early April for delivery the second week in May. The third week rolls around and still no plants. I called and spoke with Laurel, she advised that my order never got into the system so I again placed my order. Three weeks go by and still no plants, now we are well into June. I called once again and spoke with Laurel herself and advised her I wished to cancel my order. This women has a screw or two loose. She quickly became very rude and nasty and told me that "my wish is my command". She then proceeded to tell me she was going to charge me a stocking fee which she did! Really, her screw up and she still charging my credit card. I am done with Laurel and her heirloom tomatoes. From reading the other posts it appears she has some real issues with accepting responsibility for her actions. read more

Love this lady! Her plants are so wonderful. This will be my third year here and I'll keep coming back. Love the tomatoes and cucumbers best. read more

o.m.g. I'm telling you- go to the website- spend some time on the HUGE list and you will NOT be sorry- I ordered 8 plants last year- they arrived in April with some substitutions- and I just dug out the remains this weekend. No joke, HUNDREDS of tomatoes- 2 plants got smothered by the others because I did not believe Laurel when she said they needed so much room because they would be 8 feet high. No one else had tomatoes here in Berkeley and Marin- we gave baskets away and i canned 16 jars of sauce and whole tomatoes. Do it! You will be happy!! read more

I contacted Laurel for some heirloom tomato plants for my future mother in law for a Mother's day gift. I placed an order on April 16 for pickup on May 12 and it was not an issue at all. I got her on the phone and had them picked and paid for within 15 minutes of placing the call. Laurel was very helpful with advice on the tomato plants that I purchased. I called her a few days before my pickup for confirmation, and that day, the plants were ready and waiting for me as she promised. I can't wait until the tomatoes are ready! read more

I think Laurel is fantastic, the selection of tomatoes overwhelming, and pretty soon I must make myself not go there anymore (this month....) read more

I've been getting my tomatoes from Laurel for 3 years now (and got my mom and sister hooked too!) So many great heirloom choices. My favorite part of the year is studying her website and picking tomatoes! read more

Ok where do I start? I placed an order with Laurel in March for six tomato plants at $6.95 a piece. I needed to have them shipped to my home. Laurel told me that she estimated the shipping cost at $28, but said it could be a few dollars more or less. Ok fine. So, I gave her my credit card number over the phone. When I received the bill, I see that Laurel left out telling me the cost of packaging. Apparently, she does not consider PACKING the plants to part be of the shipping process. So another other nine dollars was added to the total bill. Now I'm paying $37 to get these plants to my house. A couple of days ago she charged ANOTHER $11.30 to my credit card for "shipping". Now the total is $48.80 to get 6 plants that weigh less than 1 pound to my house. The same day that she charges this extra $11.30 on my card, I hear from my credit card company that my credit card number has been hijacked and somebody is charging their way across California. I emailed laurel three times asking about why the shipping went from $28 to $48 and exactly how she was able to charge me another $11.30 on my credit card without my card number or authorization. In Her email replies she kept arguing with me insisting that the shipping was $38 because she was refusing to acknowledge that packing is part of shipping! I finally get her on the phone where she admitted that she kept my credit card number on QuickBooks on her computer. I am in no way accusing Laurel of being the person that is using my credit card but I do suspect that her system is not secure and would not advise anybody to pay her with a credit card. Additionally if you're having your plant shipped, plan on paying twice as much as she quotes you!!! read more

I'm going with 3 stars for now, I could go to 2. I'll update at harvest. I found Laurel's website then called and spoke with Laurel. I told her the varieties I wanted and she assured me that I would be able to pick them up on Sunday (when she sells tomatoes from her driveway). None of the 3 varieties I wanted were available. She somewhat snapped at me that I should order the varieties I want in advance if I expect to get them. The contradiction from our phone conversation was disappointing. I like tomatoes, but c'mon, they're only tomatoes. The plants have been in my garden for 3 weeks and look quite healthy. So do the two plants from home depot. read more

Surprised to see any bad reviews, because I think Laurel, her customer service and her plants are 5 star. Admittedly I have not had any problems to resolve. Last year I bought 6 plants and had more great tasting tomatoes than my family and neighborhood could consume. Love, love, love them. This year only bought 4. The only repeat is Sun Gold. A small orange gold tomato with abundant production and super yummy sweet flavor. I did nothing special, a little sure start and daily watering. I am in inland in So Cal and summers can have days above 100. No problems with crop or plants. Last year Purple Smudge, not a favorite, but the Black Zebra was very good and juicy. I liked it for fresh tomato sauce, but Laurel suggested trying Costoluto Genovese this year for sauce. Plants arrive in the two week window you request, which allows you to receive your plants at the best time for your area. They are carefully and well packed. Small sample of 10 plants, but no problems with any of them. Plants are a bit pricey, but I prefer these to the generic varieties you can get at the local nurseries or heaven forbid Home Depot. If you like home grown tomatoes, do yourself a favor and order some from Laurel and you too will become a loyal customer with the best tomatoes ever! If you live in So Cal South Bay, she is in Lomita and allows you to go pick your own plants. As others have said, call ahead or check for her sale dates. She does all this at her home in a residential area. Hope you try and love her tomatoes as much as I do. read more

Do NOT be in any hurry if you order from this gal.......Will post when I get my JUNE delivered plants.....what I got for the $$$$. Going in another direction for sure next year for my Heirlooms.....Added 6/5/2113...the plants came today, well packed and un-stressed. They are very health, EXTRA nice plants & well worth the money, if not the wait. Neal Smith Alexandria, Va. read more

This is my 1st. year trying Laurel's Heirloom Tomatoes. I have always gotten my tomatoes from a large home improvement store, but, last year, with all of the early, and bad heat we had, here in San Bernardino, and the resulting poor harvest, I went online looking for some kind of "heat loving" tomatoes. After finding Laurel's site, and looking at all of the very many varieties of tomatoes available, I put in an order, by phone, which Laurel took herself, for "Super Sioux", & "Sweet Baby Girl" tomatoes. Laurel was VERY HELPFUL in helping me to not just put my order in, but also to assist in deciding the best shipping time, for my tomatoes. When it was time for my tomatoes to ship, they were sent by USPS mail, and arrived in EXCELLANT shape (I emiled Laurel to tell her how impressed I was with the packageing, and she thanked me, and said that she developed the system herself). After receiving my tomatoes, and reading over her instructions, I had to email Laurel a few more times with other questions ( You see, I have grown tomatoes, in containers, for well over 20 years, and some of what she said was new to me). Laurel responded, very luckily, to my questions, and took the time to explain to me why her advise was contrary to what I have always done. Things like NOT using Miracle Grow soil, because it actually stresses the new tomatoes, and also, pinching off the blossoms for the 1st. 2 weeks, after planting, to allow for a more robust root structure. I have to say, my tomatoes have been in their "new homes" for a few days now, and they are not exhibiting that "droopy, stressed" look that I have seen on my plants in the past. These tomato plants look very healthy and strong. I am very excited about this , what is to me, a "new season" with these new tomatoes, and will try to share more as the season goes forward. All in all, so far, I am very happy with Laurel's Heirloom Tomatoes. read more

I drove up here today to get some tomato plants... Laurel takes a lot of pride in her plants, offering advice and info on each one. The selection was great-- a bit overwhelming because I was forced to make a choice... I came for six plants and ended up getting eight because I just couldn't decide. I'm very excited to see what will come of my new tomato plants! Thanks Laurel, I only wish I had more room in my yard, I would love to have one of each variety! read more

Disaster in the form of a possum struck my tomato plants. I called Laurel after reading about her business and she had exactly the plants I needed. She took my order and said I should have them in a week and a half or so and they showed up in less than a week! She also gave me great tips to keep those pests out of my tomatoes. She is so nice and helpful! I would order agin in a heartbeat from her. Thank you for saving my tomato garden Laurel!! read more

Can't say enough good things about Laurel's Heirloom Tomatoes. Last year was my first year growing tomatoes & I bought my starts at the local greenhouse. Only 1 of them really thrived, the rest did OK & 1/2 of them died. As a comparison, this year I ordered from Laurel w/ some trepidation that 31 plants were going to go thru the US postal service & still be OK. Wow, was I wrong. The packaging is incredibly foolproof (in 1 package the plants were upside down, yet fine because of the packaging), and the plants were so healthy, strong & green that you could see roots trying to grow out of the stem 2-3" above the potting mix! Every single one of them has made it in my garden and she gave me great advice as to how to avoid late blight. So far it's working. 1 very teeny complaint is that 2 of the plants were mislabeled (out of 31, so no biggie), so don't know what kind of tomato I'm eating, and for 1 of them, I really wanted what I had ordered. She's funny and spoke with me directly, offering wonderful advice. Her planting instructions are right on and her plants are just drop dead perfect;already hardened off (what a Godsend!), dark green & vigorous. Nothing spindly or weak about her plants! I asked her how many plants she sold last year (2011) and she replied, "30,000". I can totally see why - they are beautiful. I will absolutely order from her again as I don't think I can come close to raising seedlings that look anything like hers. She's a gem & really knows her tomatoes - order from her;you won't be sorry! Update from 1/29/13 - I canned 12 quarts, 24 pints, froze 25 lbs, ate I-have-no-idea how many caprese salads, gave away I-have-no-idea how many pounds. Very productive plants (the ones that didn't get our Colorado blight). Just ordered my 2013 order & Laurel was upbeat, pleasant & gave me 2 free plants due to the mislabeling episode last summer. All in all a super-pleasant person to do business with. read more

GREAT selection of mostly heirloom tomatoes..a few very good hybrids...plants arrive in spectacular shape...packaged like the "Mona Lisa"..each large plant in it's own box..sealed at the bottom..plastic bag..held by 2 rubber bands..each plant has 2 small bubble wrap "topper" then a cardboard "topper" to protect the potting mix during delivery...NOT ONE SPECK of soil or perlite in the box...shipping is expensive..BUT WORTH EVERY PENNY...well done Laurel...Dave read more

THE best, hands down. She has the technique down for flawless shipping, the variety she offers is unequaled, her plants generally are healthier than anything I see in my local nurseries, and she is open to seeking out new varieties if you are looking for something she doesn't have, which is pretty darn rare. Well worth the money. I do a lot of my own breeding, but I still find myself coming back to her. read more

I am UTTERLY DISAPPOINTED with the plants I received this year from Laurel. Last year more than half of the plants I got died very soon after planting because they had arrived so stressed. I blamed our Mississippi Hot Sun and did not bother Laurel with it. So this year I had the plants arrive sooner, so they would not be received in the 100+ degree heat. I was not home the day the plants arrived (Saturday), so when I got home on Monday night and the poor plants were all nearly dead... it was not hot out at all... in fact it was cool and had been cloudy and rainy for two days prior to my opening the box. The PLANTS ALL DIED now, a week later. Laurel maintains that this is all my fault, and will not even offer a discount or anything to help ease my pain. I WAY OVERPAID for these plants to begin with, but I was intrigued with the heirloom varieties.... not worth it if what is received is a box of death. For better service and much healthier plants, I recommend tomatobabycompany.com. Alainia is much more responsive and concerned for her customer's happiness than Laurel is... Laurel saw my situation as an opportunity to bilk me for another order of overpriced plants! I should have never stopped buying my plants from Alainia at tomatobabycompany.com... she did a great job with the packing and she was very pleasant and cares about her 'babies'. In short: avoid Laurel's unconcerned posh California overpriced plants that arrive dead and go with a nice country gal who will send you the best tomato starts you've ever seen. And just to let you know, I did give Laurel an opportunity to settle this situation with me and told her I would probably leave a scorching review for her online... but she simply DOES NOT CARE! Spend big $$$ for DEATH-IN-A-BOX if you want to... you have been warned. read more

The nicest lady to deal with. The plants were amazing. I have ordered from other places and can't compare to the quality of these. Looking forward to the tomatoes. Will definitely order from her in the future. My brother in law came down this weekend and was amazed with the plants and of course I am waiting for Laurel to call back so I can order and send to him. I was a first time customer and will order next year for sure. Thanks Laurel for all the amazing advice and fantastic service read more