By Mary O’KEEFE

It was Tomatomania at Descanso Gardens last weekend. Information on everything gardeners wanted or needed to know about tomatoes, including what best to plant in the Crescenta Valley area, was provided by experts in bright green shirts and garden hats.
For many, attending the Tomatomania event is a tradition that started in the 1990s at Hortus, an innovative nursery in Pasadena. That nursery is now closed but the event it started is growing stronger by the season.
According to tomatomania.com, Scott Daigre led the team as it branched, or vined, into the modern day Tomatomania. Daigre was a dedicated home gardener and the owner of Powerplant Garden Design in Ojai.
The success of Tomatomania may be in part due to the way the event reaches out to everyone, from admittedly obsessed tomato freaks to first time gardeners. So those who know that they want to plant heirlooms because they are open-pollinated plants or those who want to try to grow those little yellow tomatoes they had at dinner last night – this is the event for you.
As gardeners walked into the event at Descanso Gardens they first passed all the flowers and trees, which acted as inspirational signs toward the open lawn that was decorated with table after table of plants with tomato titles that included Black Krim and Blondkopfchen.
There was a cornucopia of planters and tomato cages in a variety of sizes and colors. Flyers on planting tips helped new and veteran gardeners regardless of where their garden is planted, inland or the coast, in planters or in the ground.
The event is the largest and longest running California sale that moves throughout California over weeks during the planting season. Thousands of tomato enthusiasts flock to the locations to choose from over 300 varieties of heirloom and hybrid tomatoes. When organizers state it is “one-stop shopping for tomatoes” they are not kidding.
The event really does take gardeners from farm-to-table. On their website there is a glossary of tomato/gardening words that, with a little studying, will make the novice seem professional. Every aspect is delivered with expert advice including what plants best work in the local area, when the best time is to plant, how to choose between a planter and the ground, what would be the best fertilizer and when to harvest. Then a Tomatomania book is available with recipes for post- harvest.
The event is not without its controversy, however, like to pinch or not to pinch – the act of pruning tomato plants. Some people swear pinching strengthens their plants and makes the fruit bigger while others are more conservative with pinching.
But where there is a group of gardeners there will always be a variety of opinions.
After the purchase of the plants Descanso Gardens visitors could sit and enjoy a tomato-inspired lunch catered by Patina that included a Bloody Mary bar.
Tomatomania continues at:
March 31-April 1 at Otto and Sons Nursery, 1835 E. Guiberson Road, Fillmore
April 1 at Ojai Valley School, 723 El Paseo Road, Ojai
April 5-6 at Surfas Culinary District, 8777 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City
April 8 in Santa Barbara TBD – go to tomatomania.com for details
April 22-23 at Cornerstone Sonoma, 23570 Arnold Dr., Sonoma