A Green Worm's Feast

While visiting a friend the other day, I was fascinated by the different types of tomatoes she had growing in her yard. The extent of my tomato knowledge was large red tomatoes or cherry tomatoes--both red.  Her garden had a variety of small tomatoes and a few large tomatoes. My favorite was a beautiful small yellow tomato known as a yellow pear tomato or a tear drop tomato. It also reminded me of hot air balloons or light bulbs.


A Black Cherry tomato that is a bit larger than a purple grape and almost the same color has a sweet flavor and I found the skin to be thicker than a red tomato. The Red Cherry tomato tastes like a large red tomato yet easier to eat! The large dark purple tomato I did not taste but when sliced the inside is also purple.
It's called a Cherokee Purple and over a hundred years ago the Cherokee people gave the seed to their neighbors. Amazing that the tomato has been around for so many years and I had never seen one.  My friend gave me a bag filled with the many different tomatoes and I plan to prepare a colorful salad.  That is, if I have any left because it is so easy to pick one out of the bag and pop it into my mouth.  Before we finished gathering the tomatoes, she spotted the green caterpillar. She told me that the worm destroys the plants and the tomatoes and I told her it looked "artsy" with the lime green color, yellow spots, and white lines all in symmetrical order!  The horned tail looks dangerous but I hear it is just for show!

I found out that planting Marigolds or Dill around the tomato
plants helps in keeping the horn worm away from the plants.

"Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit,

wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."

Miles Kington