The best of them are among the finest vegetables ever known. They would be well worth growing for their mouth-watering flavors alone, but they also have other important qualities. Heirlooms are living artifacts. Popular in living history exhibits, these old-time varieties offer a glimpse of life in earlier times.
Heirlooms are also a reservoir of genetic diversity.
Traits encoded in their DNA may someday prove critical to feeding the world. And there is more. Heirlooms invite passion. There is just something about all their wonderful shapes, sizes, colors, and flavors that sparks a sense of wonder. Take heirloom tomatoes, for example.