One of the easiest plants to grow in the garden is lettuce (Lactuca sativa). Of the simple pleasures in the gardener’s life, growing and harvesting fresh salad greens tops the list.
Growing hardy, flavor-filled heirloom lettuce varieties is a must for the salad lover and specialty market grower. The variety of heirloom lettuce on the market today means choosing a favorite, or several, is as simple as opening a few seed catalogs and reading the descriptions along with any included historical information of each one available. A limited sampling of which lettuces are available can be found below.
Top Eight Heirloom Lettuce Varieties
- Bronze Arrow
Native to California this loose-leaf heirloom has arrow-shaped, red-bronze to green colored leaves. Slow to bolt in warm weather and allowing a light frost to fall on it only improves the flavor. This lettuce has a very nice mild flavor.
- Kagraner Sommer
Kagraner Sommer lettuce is commonly known as Butter Bow Head lettuce. It has medium sized heads which are well-formed with sweet buttery tasting leaves. This lettuce is a good example of one which can be grown in containers. It is also heat-tolerant.
- Landis Winter
Landis Winter is a butterhead type lettuce with sweet, tender, green heads about the size of tennis balls. This lettuce can take a hard frost without damage and will do very well in a cold frame. It will also survive well into the winter and possibly into the following spring in the garden if it is mulched well. Landis Winter is a good choice for those who live in cooler climates.
- Lolla Rossa
As the name implies, Lolla Rossa is an Italian heirloom lettuce. It is a leaf lettuce with very frilly red-tipped green leaves. It has a mild flavor and is lovely when mixed with other lettuces in a salad bowl. Planting this variety ten to twelve inches apart will produce loose heads.
- Merveille de Four Seasons
Merveille de Four Seasons is a Bibb-type lettuce with tightly formed pale- colored heads reaching 12”. Heads have a deep merlot coloring with slightly lighter red outer leaves. Very good flavor but may bolt early in warm climates.
- Paris White Cos Romaine
According to Heirloom Acres Seeds website, Paris White Cos Romaine has the “highest nutritive value of any lettuce.” It is a crisp, sweet cylindrical shaped lettuce with a creamy heart and light green outer leaves.
- Ruby Red Leaf
Ruby Red is a compact leaf lettuce with a nice flavor and makes a good addition to green leaf salads.
- Salad Bowl (including both, green and red)
Salad Bowl lettuce includes both red and green varieties. The leaves of this lettuce are short, closely set and wavy with cuts in the edges. Amply named, one plant fills a salad bowl with no need to add other lettuces.
More Heirloom Lettuces
Though not a complete list, a few other heirlooms to look for when deciding which variety to plant are Continuity Red Crisphead, Forellenschluss, Green Ice, Freckles Romaine, Ithaca Head, Red Deer Tongue, Red Romaine, Rouge De Hiver, Reine Des Glaces, Rouge De Grenoblouse, Ted Oak Leaf, Waldmann’s Green Leaf, Wheeler’s Tom Thumb, White Boston and Winter Density.
To see a list of heat-tolerant, slow to bolt heirloom lettuces see the article; “Heat Tolerant Lettuce Varieties” and to add a variety of easy to grow greens to the salad bowl see the article; “How to Grow Asian Greens in Containers."
Sources:
Heirloom Acres Seeds
J. L. Hudson, Seedsman
Bountiful Gardens
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