Large, red, globe tomato, midseason maturing, indeterminate growth habit. Paragon has good flavor, but is not as sweet as today’s gardeners often expect.
Alexander W. Livingston (1821-1898), probably did more to popularize the tomato in America than any other individual. His company bred and released 35 tomato varieties between 1870 and 1941. His breeding program and vigorous promotion transformed Americans’ perception of tomatoes. His first tomato introduction in 1870, “The Paragon Tomato,” was described by Livingston as the first “perfectly and uniformly smooth tomato ever introduced.”
Mike Dunton’s Livingston Project
Our Paragon strain comes from longtime SSE member Mike Dunton’s Victory Seed Company. By the late 1990s, the Livingston tomatoes had all but disappeared from the seed trade. Those few being sold were often not true to type for their historic descriptions. Mike Dunton has spent the last twenty years researching and locating authentic Livingston tomatoes.
