Mr. Mikado

VINTAGE print

$35.00

Size: 11 inch in Length X 11 Inch Wide with ½ inch border for matt and framing.

 Located as an antique store find, this is a digitally enhanced print that was expertly photographed and then printed onto Premium Poster Paper. The unique quality is suitable for framing. A higher gloss print, the white on this paper is a little warmer and darker than the C-Prints.

 Turner’s Hybrid’ referred to the Iowa source of the original seed and presumed creator (who’s . biography remains murky). ‘Mikado’ borrowed its name from the wildly popular Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera of the same name which opened in London on March 14th, 1885. It is obvious that Peter Henderson wanted to cash in on the ‘Mikado’ craze sweeping the country. If history is to be any judge, the case for ‘Mikado’ has won out as in Europe “Mikadofolium” is now an accepted botanical nomenclature for describing all tomatoes with potato-like leaves.

 Seeds are still available today! This tomato seed is resistant to cool nights and is perhaps one reason the German plant breeders turned their attention to the potato-leaf varieties. They used ‘Turner’s Hybrid’ aka ‘Mikado’ to create a wide number of small=fruited tomatoes better suited to their climate. Examples of seeds include ‘Quedlinburger Fruhe Liebe’ (Mikado and Allerste were first released in 1951, and are still available through Seed Savers Exchanges, and remain the progeny of the original ‘Turner’s Hybrid’. The tomatoes make excellent garden plants for those parts of the country where cool nights are endemic during the summer.