Thank you for the warning about The Compleat Squash. I ordered it for my aunt for Christmas, but it never shipped. I thought I'd try again for her birthday in February. If the book is as dangerous as you say, I'd better have it shipped directly to her :)

I'm no help at all for finding the varieties you're hunting. I thought I remembered reading (at Baker Creek's or Sand Hill's site?) about the company trading with an Iranian national. It might have been for a squash type...

A little pricey and in the UK:

'Iran Squash 5 seeds cost £2.00 10 seeds cost £4.00 25 seeds cost £7.00 (C. maxima) Large round fruits grow up to 25 pounds. When ripe the fruits display three colors: salmon,cream & green. Very nice for decorations,but only fair eating qualities. Make sure to give the plants plenty of room to grow for best results. Requires a long growing season to mature.'

Also, Baker Creek lists a Crown squash (and it's on my wish list) but notes that its skin has a blue tone to it... That doesn't sound very strawberry-ish to me.

Best of luck to you, though.

Here is a link that might be useful: SEEDS-BY-SIZE SQUASH SEEDS 2009/2010 LIST

Mrs. B, not sure where you ordered your book but mine was from Baker Creek and they have the best price, don't buy off Amazon, good for some things but not this book...haven't found any Iran squash seeds yet maybe someone in the UK could send me some, to buy them from Seeds-by-Size is to pricey.....I have the Crown squash seed to plant this year plus several others which are similar, going to plant them together in one bed, polinate some by hand and then let them cross if they want to....140 hives of bees in the same field....ought to do the trick.....still a long way to go but I'll put some pictures up if all goes well......

Thank you for the tip groall.

Yes, I was seduced by one of the Amazon-type sellers at Christmas. The seller had the book new for $26 or $31. The punchline was the seller didn't actually have the book, and, come Christmas, neither did I. It worked out alright, though. My aunt was thrilled with her pickup load of wood chips and six leaky Culligan water bottles :)

Here's to a great growing season. Looking forward to the pics!

Recieved my order from "Sunrise Seeds" a mix up in emails, nice seeds in neat little marked plastic envelopes, will order from them again..... still have not located any "Iran squash" or "Strawberry Crown Squash" seeds..... anyone know where I can find some....

groall,

Did you happen to place an order with Seeds-by-Size for the Strawberry Crown? Alternately, did you learn anything about the company? I'm wondering because I'm interested in a tomato variety that a member found listed at Seeds-by-Size.

Thank you!

Here is a link that might be useful: Interested in Cheyenne Horticultural Field Station Varieties

Enabler girl here! I was pointed to a great squash site by farmerdill. I looked and they do have Iran.

mrs.b_in_wy, I don't dare mention that they have Cheyenne Bush pumpkin, developed by the USDA Field Station in Cheyenne!
http://www.kcb-samen.ch/shop/product.php?products_id=910177

Please note that many varieties are described in German, I believe. I used Bablefish to translate: http://babelfish.yahoo.com/?fr=bf-home

Here is a link that might be useful: Iran

Oh, wow! Thank you Enabler Girl! I'm going to get myself banned from all seed shopping. Good thing DH knew I was crazy before we married :)

KCB-Samen......Good site....Great pic's and descriptions...darn to many different kinds of squash...placed an order, wanted "Iran" but ordered several others also...will see how s/h is....they say order will be out in 2/5 days

Okay groall, I really must be an enabler. I just looked and there is one person listing Strawberry Crown squash in the Seed Savers yearbook. You would have to become a member in order to order the seed, but it's for a worthy cause.

Milehighgirl........if you haven't placed your order for the "Strawberry Crown squash"....if you get a second package, I'll split the s/h....been trying to find some myself....but I did order the "Iran" squash seed from "Kcb-Samen" and about eight other types....I just used PayPal which took care of the Euro problem and a lot of their catalog is in English and all of their emails are.....they have a large selection, some I have never seen or heard of......

groall, I should have looked at the listing more closely. Even if I were a listed member I could not request the seeds and then send them to you. I would have to grow them for a year and then send them. This particular listing, however, is a "Must Re-offer" listing. Therefore only a listed member can request this seed, and only if they agree to list the seeds themselves next year.

My only other suggestion would be to contact Glenn Drowns of Sand Hill Preservation, as the listing says the original seed was given to him.

At this point I am way over my head. Maybe someone with more experience can chime in.

If you're still interested groall, I see SSE has Strawberry Crown in the regular catalog this year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Squash, Strawberry Crown OG

Thks Mrs. B.......got my catalog today....yeah the seeds are there and I have an order for two pks....getting ready to go out (along with an order for several others) had a decent growing year, some of the better winter squash were Lakota, Speackle Pup, Boston Marrow, Iran was a beautiful flame colored squash but never got to taste it....Australian Butter and Rugosa Butternut was a couple of my favorite eating ones, had them every different way.....some of the ones I grew never had a chance to really develope because everything started really late because of the cool wet spring......

Hey, I'm glad for the report on Australian Butter. I'm hoping to grow it this year. Thanks are in order to Enabler Girl above :) If we're lucky we'll get to try Strawberry Crown from SSE, too, along with a dozen or so others.

Boston Marrow is this year's favorite so far. Were you able to hand pollinate any Lakota, Iran or Rugosa Butternut? Care to do any swapping?

Mrs B you typed the words right out of my mouth. I love squash, my fave veg. Does anyone of the above have any seeds to SWAP? I normally don't beg but -----!

Oh my - Enablers indeed! I just saw the kcb site and now I am fearing for my checkbook next year. I have halfway decided to go for 'real' and plant a field of pumpkins for sale next year. Considering the rural nature of where I am, though - it will probably have to be a jack o'lantern type for sale. My fingers are itching over all the 'weird but tasty' varieties though! I loved eating a sweet dumpling so much this year I bought seed for that one for my garden.