We are so happy to be able to offer Arctic Sunspot! We weren’t sure we would be able to. In 2025, we had one pack of old Arctic Sunspot seeds in our collection purchased around 2012 from Sunnyside Greenhouse in Calgary (the original package is pictured). That may have been the last pack of Arctic Sunspot anywhere,
Arctic Sunspot is part of the ‘Northern Exposure Extreme Seed’ collection.
Initially, we weren’t sure who created the ‘Northern Exposure Extreme Seed’ series.
But our curiosity got the better of us. And we dug through old seed catalogues (see Arctic Fire — on the website), took a quick trip to Bowden, Alberta and with help from the local library — we were able to put some of the pieces of the puzzle together.
Here is the story of the ‘Northern Exposure Extreme Seed’ series & Arctic Sunspot (or skip down to ‘Plant Characteristics’)
The ‘Northern Exposure Extreme Seed’ series — we have 3 varieties, Arctic Sunspot, Arctic Fire and Arctic Pot N’ Patio — was developed by the late Ed Berggren of Bowden, Alberta and first offered by Ed’s garden centre Marketland Gardens in Bowden (population 1,200) and then carried by Bow Seeds. Ed created these varieties for short season gardens — Bowden is in Zone 3b. We reached out to his son, who shared the following information: “Dad was an expert when it came to tomatoes. He was an active Proven Winners vegetable judge and often grew 70 or more varieties each year. Sadly, his knowledge died with him ten years ago.” A big thank you to his family for sharing this information.
Here is the description of Arctic Sunspot on the back of the original seed package: “Arctic Sunspot is the world’s sweetest tomato (just like eating candy). A golden yellow cherry cocktail or salad tomato. Borne in clusters of fruit up to 3cm in diameter.”
Fast forward to 2025 and we finally got around to planting the seeds – very worried we had left things too long. In the intervening 13 years since the seeds were purchased, Sunnyside, Marketland Gardens and Bow Seeds had all closed; and Arctic Sunspot seeds were not for sale anywhere.
There were 20 seeds in the original package.
On April 7, 2025, we planted 5 seeds and watched in hopeful anticipation for seedlings. But nothing came up. On April 21, we planted 5 more seeds, fingers crossed, but now more worried.
Then on April 24 – while doing a daily check of Arctic Sunspot – a teeny-weeny seedling had emerged (see the picture with the red arrow). Seeing that seedling was pure joy!
We are now ready to offer Arctic Sunspot. We have three ‘Northern Exposure Extreme Seed’ varieties available: Arctic Sunspot, Arctic Fire and Arctic Pot N’Patio.
Thank you to Annelies Ellerman for her beautiful pictures of Arctic Sunspot (last 2 pictures)! You can check out her amazing tomato & pepper pictures and great info @dutchie.grows
_____
Plant Characteristics: Arctic Sunspot is a beautiful golden yellow cherry tomato that is indeed very sweet. This is a perfect tomato to snack from in the garden. And it is early! It will easily ripen on the vine in a short season garden. Plants are about 4 ft (120 cm) tall.
_________
How to Grow Tomatoes? Start seeds indoors 6 weeks before the last frost. Plant seed 5mm (¼ inch) deep. Transplant after the danger of frost has passed/later spring.
