Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zone 4 Experience)
Lilac Giant
Indet, a wonderful and highly productive variety 👍 Seeds were from @Khrizantema57 with her highest recommendations.
The fruits are all perfectly uniform, dark pink, oblate, with an average weight of 7-10.5 oz (200-300 g), pushing up to 14 oz (400 g). I haven’t had a single wonky or catfaced tomato in two years of growing it. It has excellent fruit set and a wonderful, rich flavor with a really distinct sweet kick 😋 Grew it in the greenhouse to 2 stems. An excellent choice for slicing in salads or any kind of processing, and it actually holds up pretty well on the counter for a while.
Taking all its traits into account, I give it a 5+++ rating.
Edited November 13, 2025 by Svetikk
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There are some varieties that just stick in your memory forever, and Lilac Giant was definitely one of them for me. It’s a variety I honestly couldn’t find a single flaw in.
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Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Vigor
- 🌿 Plant: Indeterminate vine. Produces beautiful, smooth, oblate dark pink tomatoes ranging from 7 to 14 oz (200-400 g). A standout trait is how perfectly uniform the fruits are, with zero tendency toward catfacing or misshapen bottoms.
- 📈 Yield: Excellent. Sets fruit very reliably when pruned to two stems in a greenhouse.
- 👅 Taste & Usage: Outstanding rich flavor with a noticeable sweet kick. Extremely versatile, it shines fresh in salads but is meaty enough for canning and processing.
- 🛡️ Vigor & Resilience: Described by veteran growers as a practically “flawless” variety. It performs consistently over multiple seasons and has a better-than-average shelf life for a large heirloom slicer once picked.
If you’re expecting a truly purple, blue, or anthocyanin tomato based on the name, be aware of Russian naming conventions! In Russian heirloom breeding, words like Lilac or Purple are historically used to describe deep, dark pink or magenta beefsteaks (similar to the color of a Cherokee Purple or Brandywine), not the modern indigo/blue tomatoes we see today.
