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hostaholic2

Seed Source; Blue Marble Eggplant

I'm hoping someone out there may know of a seed source for Blue Marble eggplant. Burpee has discontinued it.

Comments (8)

  • 18 years ago

    As far as I can tell, you are out of luck. Burpee was the developer, grower and seller of this variety and they have discontinued it. No one else seems to have carried it. It was sold by Amazon, however they have discontinued it also. It's a hybrid so even if you could locate some seed to grow out, it would do you no good to try to save seed for later planting. I'm sorry, it's so hard to lose a favorite variety like that.
    Jim of Seedman has an eggplant that he lists as a "baby" variety. Perhaps it will help? Here is a copy of his listing and a link to it.

    Eggplant
    G026 Baby Eggplant
    A new mini vegetable. Plants are compact and bear loads of miniature fruit that can be deep fried whole. One of the new rages in miniature veggies. Perfect for container raising. Fruits are very tasty.
    20 seeds $1.95

    I'm sorry I was unable to help more. Perhaps someone else can do more for you.

    Carole

    Here is a link that might be useful: Seedman website and eggplant listing.

  • 18 years ago

    Carole, thanks for the reply. I pretty much figured I was out of luck, but in the spirit of leaving no stone unturned, I thought I'd post here...just in case. I have located a couple of round Italian varieties that I plan to try, one an heirloom variety, so if we like it I can save seed. Thanks also for the link, I checked it out. I'm looking for a larger variety though. Guess this summer will be field trials of several varieties to try to find a replacement.

  • 18 years ago

    Take a look at Seeds From Italy, growitalian.com's, eggplants. The last one on their list looks an awful lot like the one you're looking for. Perhaps it's the real McCoy? Maybe Burpee's wasn't a hybrid after all.....

    I hope you find what you're looking for.

    By the way, 'mind telling us what you liked so much about the Blue Marble?

    Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Marble by another name?

  • 18 years ago

    marquette, thanks for the link. That looks very much like Blue Marble. I'll certainly be giving them a try. We like the mild flavor, no bitterness,not to seedy and could get fairly large. The shape also made them nice for making rollitini.Think I'll head back over to the site and see what else looks good. Thanks again.

  • 18 years ago

    10-15 years ago I began growing a pole bean hybrid developed by Burpee called "Early riser". Had great luck with it for several years, then they discontinued it. It took a couple of years to find it again, sold by Shepard seeds as "Kwintus" I found it totally by reading descriptions, and have also found it named "Northeaster"
    The point is, perhaps Burpee sold the eggplant to someone else though I'm sure this happens less today with all the seed companies clotting and getting bigger and trimming their offerings to mostly be the "universal best sellers."
    Last year I ordered from Gourmet seeds International... they offer seed from a number of European and Asian companies..

    Here is a link that might be useful: gourmet seed international

  • 18 years ago

    Thanks for the link, looks like another great site. Now I'm adding veggies to my list of plant addictions.

  • 18 years ago

    Hi hostaholic2,
    I was out wandering through the seed sites when I came upon Amishland Heirloom Seeds. They have a fascinating collection of eggplant seeds so guess who I thought of!
    These are not your standard Dusky or Black Beautys. Take a look, they're not Blue Marble (sorry), but they are very interesting. They have eggplants from Sri Lanka, India, China, Africa, and other places. They also have an heirloom eggplant seed mixture.
    I'm having fun just reading about them and I thought you might also.
    Carole

    Here is a link that might be useful: Amishland Seeds - Eggplants

  • 18 years ago

    Carole, thanks for the link. Another fun website to wander through while I wait for spring.