Orange carrots

(Daucus carota)

Purple, white, and yellow carrots may look like strange new hybrids, but ancient civilizations from Europe to East Asia cultivated yellow and purple carrots. Today's "normal" orange carrots likely didn't become popular until the 1800s.

Image credit: Hflournouy1

The French developed many of today's popular heirloom carrot varieties including Oxhart, Nantes, St. Valery, and Chantennay. As you probably know, some carrot varieties grow short, making them more suitable for hard, clay soils, while other varieties are tough and burrow deeper into the soil.

Image credit: LCBGlenn

If you're still interested in purple, white, and yellow carrots (honestly, doesn't every gardener want to pick these from his garden?), you can find Burpee's Kaleidoscope Mix of colorful carrots at your local ChinaMart.While these seeds are open-pollinating and organic, I can't determine whether they are actually heirlooms as they seem like new varieties of the ancient plants. 

One word of warning: don't plan to transplant carrots as this can give you forked roots. Sow seeds outside three or four weeks before the last frost and be patient. The hardest part of carrot gardening for me is waiting until they're ready for harvest—between 75 and 80 days after sowing.

Here's hoping your bouquet of carrots is as colorful as you dream it will be.