What Should I Know About My Variety Of Lettuce (Part 1)?

Do you grow a variety called ‘Little Gem’?

Do you grow a variety called ‘Sylvesta’?

Do you grow a variety called ‘Roxy’?

Do you grow a variety called ‘Freckles’?

Do you grow a variety called ‘Optima’?

Do you grow a variety called ‘Esmeralda’?

Do you grow a variety called ‘Jericho’?

Do you grow a variety called ‘Rouge d’Hiver’?

Do you grow a variety called ‘Outredgeous’?

Do you grow a variety called ‘Flashy Troutback’?

Do you grow a variety called ‘Winter Density’?

Do you grow a variety called ‘Michelle French Batavian’?

Do you grow a variety called ‘Summertime’?

Do you grow a variety called ‘Yugoslavian Red’?

One of the best-known cos varieties, this dwarf, compact lettuce produces crisp, medium-sized hearts, which have an outstanding sweet flavor. This fast-growing mid-green lettuce is perfect for smaller gardens and can be grown well under cloches.

One of the few organic lettuce varieties that shows resistance to aphids, it has big butterheads with thick but tender green outer leaves and tightly packed, blanched hearts. Resistance to downy mildew and mosaic virus adds to its productiveness.

This standard European butterhead variety produces large beautiful heads that are slow to bolt and resist tip burn. Glossy red, slightly rumpled outer leaves conceal a bright-green, tender heart. It has a soft texture and a mild and tasty flavor.

This unusual heirloom romaine lettuce variety bears bright-green leaves splattered with crimson “freckles.” It is a hardy variety that can be successionally sown from early spring to fall, producing crisp, upright heads with a buttery texture and sweet flavor.

One of the darkest green butterhead lettuces sold, ‘Optima’ offers superior nutrient levels and resistance to multiple diseases. Big-framed and thick-leaved, it matures in about 55 days and demonstrates excellent tolerance to summer heat.

This slow-bolting, green butterhead produces large, firm heads that are resistant to tip burn, downy mildew, and mosaic virus. As is typical for butterhead lettuce, ‘Esmeralda’ has a sweet flavor and a smooth, tender texture.

This summer romaine, bred for Israel’s desert climate, has a reputation for excellent heat tolerance, as well as sweet succulent flavor long past the time when most lettuces have turned bitter. The heads are tall and robust and have good tip-burn resistance.

A popular winter variety, as its name suggests, ‘Rouge d’Hiver’ is also good for fall and spring crops. French romaine lettuce, the red-tinted leaves turn deeper red in cold weather and can be harvested as baby leaves or as compact heads when mature.

The reddest of the red romaine, ‘Outredgeous’ makes a colorful addition to baby salad mixes, and forms a loose head as it matures. Leaves are thick and slightly ruffled, full of antioxidants, and maintain their redness even when grown in low light conditions.

This beautiful, heirloom, romaine-type lettuce, also sold as ‘Forellenschluss’, is prized for its unique red-speckled leaves and superior sweet, crunchy flavor. It holds up in summer heat and can be harvested as baby greens or as tender, mature leaves.

This hardy, semi-cos lettuce is sown in the fall to overwinter for a spring harvest. Upright, densely packed heads have crisp leaves with a sweet flavor that rivals the excellent taste of ‘Little Gem’. It is slow to bolt and tolerates the heat well.

Bolt-resistant ‘Michelle’ is mostly green, with crisp leaves that become tinged with red in the cool of spring and fall. Baby leaves can be picked for salads. The dense, crispy heads mature in 55 days and hold up well in the summer heat.

Bred to form a crisp, solid head that matures in the summer heat without bolting, ‘Summertime’ is easy-growing, iceberg-type lettuce. The medium-sized heads are resistant to rib discoloration and tip burn and have a mild, sweet flavor.

This name of this butterhead variety says it all. A Yugoslavian discovery, it produces large, loose heads of puckered green leaves that are tinged with red, and which when cut in half reveal a solid bright-greeny yellow center. It has an excellent mild, buttery flavor.

‘Cardinale’ heat-tolerant summer crisp, or Batavian-type lettuce, forms open rosettes of bronze-red leaves that fold themselves in as the heads mature in 55 to 60 days. The outer leaves are crisp and sweet and can be harvested as loose leaves before the heads develop.