“Flowers,” as Farmer Lee Jones points out, “have been used as inspiration for a myriad of things for thousands of years.” They are “one of the most intimate, seductive things that exist. It’s a flower, it’s to attract. You get the beauty of the color, but you also get the aroma and the bouquet of that flower.”

Although this scenario happened years ago, it’s easy to picture the scene. Bob Jones, Jr. had just spotted French breakfast radishes that weren’t harvested in time. He wasn’t very happy about this development, as these radishes were – and still are – in demand from chefs because of their mildly peppery flavor and note of sweetness, and because of their succulent, crunchy and tender texture.

If Farmer Lee Jones had it his way, he’d create a top 100 list of the best summer crops but we’ve convinced him to narrow it down to the top 10! Here are his final choices, products we’ve shipped to top chefs around the country and world – and are now available for home chefs, as well.

Fiery yellow, red and orange nasturtium blooms have been popular trellis climbers in European gardens ever since the gardeners of the French King Louis XIV started cultivating them in his flowerbeds.