Tomato time is a favorite for many gardeners, and there are lots of fun varieties to try out. AP gardening columnist Jessica Damiano experiments with new varieties each year. But she also tends to return to her favorites. Her top-performing tomato plants are Bull’s hearts, Rutgers, Big Boys, Sungold cherry tomatoes and Brandywines. Bull's hearts produce large, meaty fruit with few seeds. They're great for salads, sandwiches and sauce. Rutgers are sometimes called Jersey tomatoes. They're also so-called “slicer” tomatoes good in sandwiches and salads. Big Boys are among the tastiest of the hybrids. And candy-sweet, orange Sungold cherry tomatoes are great right off the plant. Brandywines have pinkish-red fruit that makes perfectly sized sandwich slices.
Visitors are flocking to Death Valley National Park in California and Nevada to take in a rare phenomenon known as a superbloom. Thousands of long-dormant flowers have popped through the desert soil, transforming the barren landscape in carpets of gold. The bloom is a result of steady rain in the fall and winter, and experts don't expect the blooms to last long. Ecologists say the superbloom, though not a real scientific term, proves that there is life in the desert, even in a place known for death.
