17 Cherry Tomatoes for Your Summer Garden

Cherry tomatoes offer bite-sized bursts of flavor and ornament in the summer garden. In vibrant reds, golds, purples, and whites, these petite fruits carry an intensity of hues and flavors to match, whether sweet, tart, tangy, or complexity of the three.

Cherry tomatoes are typically small and round globes but also pear or grape-shaped. Among tomato types, cherries are the little fruits that mature quickly in bountiful clusters. They’re ideal for grazing fresh from the vine on a garden walkabout and for snacking, salads, salsas, and cooking. Cherry tomatoes, particularly determinate varieties, also make excellent container specimens (for especially easy enjoyment!). 

Growing cherry tomatoes is a relatively carefree endeavor with a few key cultural requirements. Cherry tomatoes require six or more hours of sunlight each day, with protection from scorching afternoon rays in hot, southern climates. They’ll grow best with consistently moist, organically rich, and well-draining soils. Regular watering and feeding keep plants healthy and productive all season.

Here, we’ll explore favorite cherry tomato varieties for flavor, color, and garden performance. These juicy little pearls imbue the taste of summer. 

‘Sweet Million’

	botanical name Lycopersicon esculentum ‘Sweet Million’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 3-5’

‘Sweet Million’ hybrid cherry tomato is a vining, indeterminate variety that produces masses of small half to one-and-a-half-inch tomatoes. Clusters of uniform red fruits hang from tall stems on this classic favorite.

‘Sweet Million’ tomatoes are tender with a balanced sweet and acidic flavor. These early fruits are perfect for popping right from the garden. The small tomatoes are a chef’s favorite, served fresh, pickled, or preserved.

‘Sweet Million’ resists tomato diseases like leaf spot, fusarium wilt, and mosaic virus strains. Because it’s an indeterminate tomato, the plant produces fruits all season long. For best growth and fruiting, plants need support or staking.

‘Yellow Pear’ Tomato

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Yellow Pear’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 6-8’

‘Yellow Pear’ produces masses of small one-to-two-inch pear-shaped golden tomatoes. Pretty and flavorful, the little pears are tangy and grow prolifically throughout the season.

Heirloom ‘Yellow Pear’ tomatoes date to Europe in the 1700s (and maybe earlier). American colonists used them for pickling, canning, and flavoring soups, but they’re delicious fresh from the vine.

Many strains of yellow pear tomatoes are available today and are easy-to-grow, vigorous, and heavy producers. Heirloom yellow pears are indeterminate, with sprawling vines that produce fruits all season. Provide sturdy support, like a large tomato cage or trellis.

‘Black Cherry’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Black Cherry’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 5-7’

‘Black Cherry’ features purple-black fruits with dark interiors and is a “true black” cherry tomato. The perfect rounds boast a complex flavor characteristic of purple tomatoes – fruity, sweet, and rich.

Indeterminate plants are vigorous growers and prolific fruiters. One-inch fruits appear in generous clusters throughout the season, beginning about 70 days after transplanting.

‘Black Cherry’ fruits combine with red and yellow cherries for a beautiful summer salad. Like most cherry tomatoes, they’re also delicious for snacking right off the vine.

‘Patio Choice Yellow’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Patio Choice Yellow’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 15-18”

The ‘Patio’ series features hybrid, compact plants with bountiful cherry fruits. ‘Patio Choice Yellow’ produces masses of bright yellow globes measuring one-and-a-half inches wide. 

‘Patio Choice Yellow’ is an All-America Selections award winner for its compact habit, production, and garden performance. The plants are heat- and humidity-tolerant and resistant to common tomato diseases like tobacco mosaic virus and wilt. 

‘Patio Choice Yellow’ is a determinate variety that produces 100 little tomatoes simultaneously. AT just 18 inches tall, the variety lives up to its name for growing in reachable pots and containers. Enjoy the fruits fresh and use them in canning and sauces.

‘Midnight Snack’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Midnight Snack’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 5-6’

‘Midnight Snack’ is a tender, tasty, easy-to-grow cherry tomato with a unique indigo color. Young fruits transition from green to gold to red with purple-black overtones, making them as ornamental as they are delicious. These attention-grabbing cherry tomatoes are a striking addition to the mix of red and gold cherry tomatoes.

‘Midnight Snack’ is an All-America Selections award winner with outstanding flavor among purple tomatoes and vigorous garden performance. Indeterminate vines grow tall (up to six feet) and require staking. They’ll produce fruit all season long.

‘Midnight Snack’ coloration comes from anthocyanin pigments, and the snackers contain the same healthy antioxidants found in blueberries. Fruits maintain the cherry tomato balance of sweet and tangy and weigh about one-and-a-half ounces.

‘Sun Sugar’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Sun Sugar’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 6-7’

‘Sun Sugar’, whose yellow orbs ripen to golden orange, is among the most flavorful and sweetest yellow cherries. These prolific producers bear hundreds of sweet fruits throughout the season.

‘Sun Sugar’ is an indeterminate variety that grows tall with stems up to seven feet long. They’ll need a large cage, stakes, or trellis for support.

‘Sun Sugar’ cherry tomatoes are easy to grow and resistant to cracking and diseases like wilt and mosaic virus. Fruits weigh ½ to ¾ of an ounce and mature early in the season (around 62 days after transplanting) and continue until frost. As a bonus, these golden globes are high in Vitamin A.

‘Tiny Tim’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 10-12”

‘Tiny Tim’ is genuinely tiny, both in form and fruit size, and it’s hard not to find these petite tomato plants cute. They reach only 10 to 12 inches tall in pots and containers and grow slightly larger in the ground. ‘Tiny Tim’ produces abundant half-inch round red tomatoes.

‘Tiny Tim’ spreads about 14 inches on determinate plants without staking or caging. This 1945 heirloom is from New Hampshire’s Agricultural Experiment Station.

The ultra-compact habit of ‘Tiny Tim’ makes it suitable for stand-alone or mixed plantings in large containers. ‘Tiny Tim is an early producer, maturing about a week or two earlier than most tomato varieties.

‘Chocolate Cherry’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Chocolate Cherry’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 5-6’

With its unique coloration and bite-size appeal, ‘Chocolate Cherry’ is an exciting addition to any tomato garden. The sweetly flavored, one-inch round cherry tomatoes ripen to purplish-red and cluster prolifically on tall vines. 

‘Chocolate Cherry’ is indeterminate, with long stems up to six feet tall and three feet wide. The fruits resist cracking and appear in groups of six to eight throughout the season. 

‘Chocolate Cherry’ fruits are just as tasty when picked a few days early and allowed to ripen indoors. Thin-skinned and juicy, these tomatoes are among the most flavorful of the cherry types.

‘Supersweet 100’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Supersweet 100’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 5-6’

‘Supersweet 100’ features long vines packed with classic red cherry tomatoes in large clusters. Attractive clusters have young green fruits blended with yellow mid-stage fruits and ripening to red.

This cherry tomato variety is a reliable favorite and an improved hybrid over the original ‘Sweet 100’. It is disease-resistant to verticillium and fusarium wilts and is famous for its wonderfully sweet flavor.

In addition to higher sugar content, ‘Supersweet 100’ is high in vitamin C. Give plants a large support cage for productive and sprawling indeterminate vines.

‘Sungold’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Sungold’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 6’

‘Sungold’ glows with perfectly round, golden orb tomatoes. This early-maturing variety is beloved as a gardener favorite for its bountiful fruits, cheery color, and deliciously sweet flavor, like a taste of summer squeezed into juicy, bite-sized fruits.

‘Sungold’ is resistant to splitting, but pick fruits a few days early to prevent cracking when ripe and let them ripen fully indoors. Fruits are flavorful even before they are fully golden, and early picking won’t compromise flavor. It protects the thin-walled fruits from the sun and from birds who find them tasty, too.

‘Sungold’ tomato plants resist fusarium wilt and tobacco mosaic virus. Their firm texture, high yield, and sugary flavor make the globes perfect for snacking and sharing. Productive plants yield about 120 tomatoes per season.

‘Black Pearl’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Black Pearl’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 4-5’

‘Black Pearl’ bears an abundance of one-and-a-half-inch, dusky purplish-black round fruits. The flavor is both sweet and savory off the vine.

While it’s usually best not to refrigerate tomatoes to preserve flavor and texture, try ‘Black Pearl’ chilled. Seed catalogs describe a grape flavor after refrigeration. Even the regular flavor gets better with age, improving after picking.

Indeterminate vines produce mature tomatoes about 65 days after planting. The long, symmetrical fruit clusters make an attractive display.

‘Cherry Falls’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Cherry Falls’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 18”

Like ‘Tumbling Tom,’ ‘Cherry Falls’ cascades over hanging baskets, planter boxes, and pots. The plants yield clusters of bright red cherry tomatoes on 18-inch vines with short stems. The abundant half- to one-and-a-half-inch globes appear early in the season.

‘Cherry Falls’ is a compact but vigorous grower and fruiter. Its size makes it ideal for growing in containers and small spaces, allowing stems to drape. They don’t require staking or additional support. 

The plants are heat-tolerant and easy to grow. The petite ‘Cherry Falls’ tomatoes have a zesty, tangy flavor that leans sweet.

‘Washington Cherry’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Washington Cherry’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 3-4’

Developed by Washington State University, ‘Washington Cherry’ is the first of its kind – an early fruiting, determinate tomato. Compact plants yield a profusion of rich red, meaty globes. 

The high-yielding fruits of ‘Washington Cherry’ have thick walls to protect them for a long shelf life. The tomatoes are full, weighing about an ounce (on the heftier side for a cherry variety). 

‘Washington Cherry’ is ready to harvest about 60 days after transplanting. The bushy plants don’t require staking and are perfect for containers or the garden bed.

‘Tumbling Tom Yellow’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Tumbling Tom Yellow’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 20-24”

‘Tumbling Tom Yellow’ is a unique cherry tomato because of its form. ‘Tumbling Tom’ is a dwarf grower with stems that “weep” up to two feet and bear loads of one—to two-inch fruits. The plants spill over hanging baskets, window boxes, and containers with trailing stems and bright golden globes of petite tomatoes.

In addition to yellow-gold, the ‘Tumbling Tom’ series features a cherry-red fruiting variety. Plant one of each color in a large container for a colorful tumble of fruits. These tidy trailers don’t need support or staking.

‘Tumbling Tom’ is a compact tomato that grows only six to eight inches wide and up to two feet tall. It’s ideal for containers and small-space gardens like porches, patios, balconies, and raised bed plantings.

‘Fantastico’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Fantastico’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 12-24”

‘Fantastico’ is another All-America Selections award winner for its prolific one-ounce grape tomatoes from vigorous, determinate, bushy plants. ‘Fantastico’ produces high yields of sweetly flavored tomatoes in long clusters. 

Each ‘Fantastico’ plant produces twelve pounds of tomatoes in the growing season. The small fruits resist cracking, and the plants are resistant to blight.

‘Fantastico’ packs a punch. It is ideal for container-grown tomato selections, with abundant fruiting and disease resistance. Tomatoes mature early in the season. While determinate and small, ‘Fantasitco’ grows best with caged support.

‘Candyland Red’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Candyland Red’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 5-7’

‘Candyland Red’ just sounds like a tomato to love. And it is! This All-America Selections award winner is a currant-type tomato, with fruits slightly smaller than the typical cherry types, but it’s a must-have on our list of tiny tomatoes. 

‘Candyland Red’ fruits are deep red and have a rich, sweet flavor. While many currant tomatoes grow a bit wild and develop fruits on the interior of the plant, ‘Candyland’ produces on the outside of the bush for easy harvesting and quick snacking. The plants have a tidy, more compact habit than other currant cultivars. 

The petite, half-inch fruits of ‘Candyland Red’ are borne on tall stems that reach seven feet long. Each plant yields over 100 of the tasty ed rounds per season.

‘Firefly’

	botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Firefly’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 5-6’

‘Firefly’ lights up the summer garden with rounds of pale, creamy yellow cherry tomatoes. Fruits have a balanced sweet and acidic flavor, with tender skins and juicy interiors. 

Meriting this variety the All-America Selections award, it’s a prolific producer, with over 500 fruits per plant That’s plenty of bite-sized flavor to enjoy all season until frost.

Plants have good disease resistance to wilts, mosaic virus, and cracking. Provide ample support for tall, indeterminate stems.