May 1, 2002

Limited Edition Vegetation

Hybrid Seed Gardening

Rumor has it that a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet. How about a bright-pink eggplant? Just as delish?

Indeed. Embrace your inner Martha Stewart, and grow them yourself.

It’s simple: Garden giant Burpee makes hybrid seeds. Ruby Queen corn is a becoming shade of scarlet, Chocolate Belle sweet pepper is, well, surpassingly sweet, and the Orange Sunshine watermelon is as luminous as orange sherbet (and no seeds!).

Our favorites? The Apricot Runner, a bean-and-flower combo that blooms in a glorious hue, and Bright Lights Swiss chard, which crops up in an array of rainbow-colored stems: yellow, pink, gold, orange, purple, scarlet, or striped like peppermint sticks. Burpee’s gems are almost too pretty to eat.

With colors like that gracing the garden, who needs roses?

Seeds are available online at burpee.com.