George's Current Ramblings and Readlings

Final Year for This Website

February 18th, 2025

   I’ve been gradually shedding layers of my career as I’ve inched toward retirement these last few years, and now I’m down to writing for The Patriot-News/PennLive.com, doing a couple of free-lance writing gigs, and running this website.

Old George in a familiar position.

   I’ve decided it’s time to scratch No. 3 off that list.

   As of the end of 2025, I’m retiring from the website business and saying goodbye to GeorgeWeigel.net.

   I’ll continue to write biweekly posts here for the rest of this year as well as add about three new entries each month to the Plant Profiles section and send out monthly roundups of what all I’ve been writing about.

   After that, this site will go into suspended animation until my contract for use of the GeorgeWeigel.net domain runs out – at the end of April 2026.

   Going down with the site will be the “Buy Helpful Info” section, which means you won’t be able to buy my “Pennsylvania Month-by-Month Gardening” book, my “50 Public Gardens You Really Ought to See” e-book, and my 19-page “Pennsylvania Survivor Plants” booklet. So if you’re interested in any of those, head over to that section and order what you’d like sometime before the end of the year.

   I’ve been writing posts and adding “content” (what used to be called articles) to this site for more than 20 years. That means there’s a lot of information attached to it – photos, lists, plant profiles, garden columns, monthly tips, musings, opinions, and assorted stuff that I thought might be of interest to home gardeners.

   Most of it is still useful today. Rather than see it all go down the drain, I thought I’d put it up for sale – all or in part – maybe to some future or budding garden writer as an alternative to starting from scratch.

   Or possibly some of you would like to buy photos and use them for your own projects, whether it’s a personal crafty thing or use in Power Points, your own website or Facebook pages, or as illustrations for newsletters, articles, and such.

The Best New Trees and Shrubs of 2025

February 4th, 2025

   A cold-hardy banana tree with maroon striped leaves, a snowbell tree that reblooms, and several more ever-higher-performing hydrangeas are among the most interesting new trees and shrubs hitting the market for the 2025 growing season.

Banana ‘Ever Red.’
Credit: Concept Plants

   Growers, local garden centers, and other plant experts mentioned the following 15 choices for my annual wintertime four-part, best-new-plants series.

   Today’s post marks the final installment of this year’s best-new-plants series.

   Part one on best new edibles of 2025 appeared on Jan. 14, part two on best new annual flowers of 2025 appeared on Jan. 21, and part three on best new perennial flowers of 2025 posted last Tuesday, Jan. 28.

   Some of the following new tree and shrub varieties are available online and in some plant catalogs. Most also will be available in local garden centers beginning in April.

   The details:

Hardy banana ‘Ever Red’

   A banana tree for Pennsylvania yards? Don’t expect clusters of yellow fruits, but we can now grow a reliably cold-hardy ornamental version of banana with the 2025 arrival of the ‘Ever Red’ variety.

   Maria Zampini, president of the Ohio-based Upshoot plant-introduction company, likes this new small tree from Concept Plants for its big, bold, and colorful tropical leaves.

   “It has maroon red stripes in the foliage and is fast-growing,” she says. “As the name implies, it’s pretty hardy.”

   Zampini says ‘Ever Red’ offers a showy tropical-looking addition to northern outdoor living spaces, where the plant can be grown in a large pot or planted in the ground.

   Although ‘Ever Red’ is rated to USDA Hardiness Zone 5 (well within the range of winters throughout most of Pennsylvania), it’ll die back to the ground in our dormant season. Concept Plants recommends covering the roots with straw or mulch in winter.

   Come spring, shoots rise eight feet or more (up to 12 feet) and grow those large green-and-maroon striped leaves.

Snowbell Starway to Heaven, habit at left, flowers at right.
Credit: Proven Winners/ColorChoice

Snowbell Starway to Heaven

   Another more conventional small tree turned enough heads at last September’s Farwest trade show to earn both the Best of Show Retailer’s Choice Award from The Garden Center Group and the People’s Choice voting by attendees.

   Snowbell Starway to Heaven is a break-through on three fronts… 1.) it has a narrow habit of 12 to 18 feet tall but only eight feet in width; 2.) it’s a rebloomer, flowering in the traditional spring but also again in fall, and 3.) it has an unusual flower arrangement that one of its discoverers, Chris Robinson of Oregon’s Robinson Nursery, describes as “like a spiral staircase going up.”

   Snowbell is an under-known, under-used small tree that hasn’t been widely planted in Pennsylvania because of marginal winter-hardiness. However, this one is rated for USDA Hardiness Zones 5-9, placing it well within most of the state’s climate norms.

   Starway to Heaven’s flowers are fragrant, five-petaled, and as its wholesale grower, Michigan-based Spring Meadow Nursery, describes them, “shimmering and almost metallic in effect.”

   The tree grows in full sun to light shade.

The Best New Perennial Flowers of 2025

January 28th, 2025

   A new line of high-performing mixed-species peonies, a super-sized new salvia, and several new varieties of pollinator favorites highlight the list of interesting new perennials debuting in the 2025 growing season.

Itoh Garden Candy peonies Candy Apple, left, and Simply Scrumptious, right. Credit: Plants Nouveau

   Growers, local garden centers, and other plant experts picked the following 12 choices for my annual January four-part, best-new-plants series.

   The article on best new edibles of 2025 appeared Jan. 14, while the rundown on best new annual flowers posted last week. The series ends next week with a look at the best new trees and shrubs of 2025, posting Feb. 4.

   The following new perennial flowers are available online and in some plant catalogs and will start showing up in local garden centers in April.

   The details:

Garden Candy series of Itoh peonies

   Itoh peonies are a cross between herbaceous and tree peonies that yield the best of both worlds – bushy, disease- and deer-resistant plants with big flowers in lots of colors. They’re named after Dr. Toichi Itoh, the Japanese botanist who made the first cross decades ago.

   Enter Donald Smith, a retired atmospheric research physicist who took on a retirement project of breeding new varieties of these “intersectional” Itoh peonies in new colors and double-flowered versions.

   He’s been working on it since 2010 and has come up with a line of 11 impressive plants being introduced this year under the Garden Candy name by Alabama-based Plants Nouveau. 

   “We have deemed Don the ‘Willy Wonka of peony breeding,’” says Angela Treadwell-Palmer, Plants Nouveau’s founder and co-owner.

   Treadwell-Palmer especially likes the Candy Apple variety – a double red – and the Simply Scrumptious variety – a double bloomer with lemony-peach petals and a cherry blush.

   Other Garden Candy entries include Evie Jane (a double pink), Pineapple Fizz (bright yellow), and Summer Sunset (peach).

“These also do not attract those annoying ants or fall in the mud after a hard rain,” Treadwell-Palmer adds. 

   All of the Garden Candy varieties grow nearly three feet tall and four feet wide, die back to the ground in winter, and do well in full sun to part shade.

The Best New Annual Flowers of 2025

January 21st, 2025

   A butterfly-magnet new ageratum, a shrub-turned-annual-flower called dampiera, and a new sunflower with a thousand blooms headline the list of interesting new annual flowers debuting in the 2025 growing season.

Ageratum Monarch Magic.
Credit: Penn State Trial Gardens

   Growers, local garden centers, and other plant experts picked those and more for the four-part, best-new-plants series that I compile each January – a good month for gardeners to plan what to plant in the coming season.

   The article on best new edibles of 2025 appeared last week, the best new perennial flowers of 2025 will post next Tuesday, and the best new trees and shrubs of 2025 is scheduled to post Feb. 4.

   Some of the following 20 new annual flowers are available in seeds or plants online and in some plant catalogs. Most also will show up in plant form in local garden centers beginning in late April to early May.

   The details:

Ageratum Monarch Magic

   This hefty new pollinator-attractor is the favorite new-for-2025 annual of no less than three flower-watchers: Alyssa Collins, director of Penn State’s Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Lancaster County; Pamela Bennett, the Extension educator in charge of Ohio State University’s flower trials, and Stephanie Vincenti, Ball FloraPlant’s marketing manager.

   Collins says that in Penn State’s 2024 flower trials, Monarch Magic “came right out of the gate flowering immediately and stayed in constant flower all summer, right up to Halloween.”

   She adds that it lived up to its name, too, attracting numerous butterflies and hummingbirds.

   Bennett wrote in Greenhouse Grower magazine that Monarch Magic “was incredible in many ways. It’s a vigorous grower with more of a vining/spreading habit than most ageratums. One plant can get to around 2½ feet tall and wide. It is loaded with flowers that continually bloom and does not need deadheaded to look good.”

   And Vincenti adds that the variety is a vigorous grower with excellent heat resistance.

   I also test-grew Monarch Magic last summer and was impressed with its solid growth, flower power, and pollinator-drawing ability.

   The plant performs well in full sun to light shade.

Begonia Birthday Bash ‘Chocolate Cherry.’
Credit: Penn State Trial Gardens

Begonia Birthday Bash ‘Chocolate Cherry’

   Penn State Extension educator Krystal Snyder evaluates hundreds of new flowers at Penn State’s Trial Gardens in Lancaster County, so it’s hard to single out just one as the best of the lot.

   In the 2024 trials, though, Snyder was most impressed with Syngenta Flowers’ new begonia called Birthday Bash ‘Chocolate Cherry.’

   Snyder says ‘Chocolate Cherry’ is an excellent double-flowered variety for the shade that’s particularly showy for its dark foliage and bright-red flowers.

   It earned a perfect five-out-of-five rating all season long and ended up as the top-performing begonia out of the 89 versions trialed last summer.

   ‘Chocolate Cherry’ is also very heat-tough, does best in shade to part shade, and has a mounding habit about 12 to 18 inches tall with a nearly two-foot spread.

The Best New Vegetables, Herbs, and Fruits of 2025

January 14th, 2025

   It’s another new year, and the garden is waiting in the wings to be filled in just a few months with fresh, home-grown produce.

The Purple Tomato really is purple inside and out… not just purple-skinned.

   This is a good planning time – not only to order seeds for the 2025 edible garden but also to hone in on the best varieties of vegetables, herbs, and fruits for May planting.

   Lots of new varieties are debuting in 2025 to add to the tried-and-true.

   Let’s have a look this week at some of the best new edibles hitting the market.

   Next Tuesday, I’ll post the best new annual flowers of 2025, then on Jan. 28 the year’s best new perennial flower introductions, and finally on Feb. 4 the year’s best new trees and shrubs.

   Some of the following new edibles are already available online and in catalogs. If any strike your fancy, it’s best to order ASAP before the supply dwindles.

   Others will show up in local garden centers – seed packets already and plants in April and May.

The Purple Tomato

   This purple-fruited cherry tomato generated much news (and controversy) last year when it debuted as the first bioengineered food crop marketed mainly to home gardeners. The fruits get their purple color (both skin and flesh) from purple snapdragon genes inserted into a standard cherry-tomato variety.

   The Purple Tomato (that’s the official name) came out a bit late for 2024 seed orders, so this is the first January that gardeners will be able to order in time for indoor seed-starting (if the supply isn’t already gone). It’s available only by direct-ordering from the producer, California-based Norfolk Healthy Produce.

   2025 seeds went on sale Dec. 2 and were expected to sell quickly despite a price of $20 for 10 seeds (plus shipping).

   Besides the fruit-color novelty, the attraction is a nutrition makeup that’s exceptionally high in antioxidants – on par with the so-called “superfood” levels found in blueberries, according to Norfolk Healthy Produce.

   Plants are heavy fruit producers, the fruits mature almost black, and the flavor is described as better than average by some but bland by others.

   Once you buy seeds, you can save your own to start your own in future years.

Read George’s trial experience with The Purple Tomato

Cherry tomato Tonatico

   On the more conventional cherry-tomato front, Tonatico is a new red-fruited cherry tomato that performed well enough in trial gardens last year to earn a 2025 All-America Selections award for the Northeast region.

   AAS judges say this Bejo USA introduction is an excellent yielder, is disease- and crack-resistant, and has a “sweet and robust” flavor.

   Plants are indeterminate (i.e. they produce continually until frost) and grow about five feet tall. Each plant can produce up to 200 nearly two-ounce round fruits, which ripen about 60 days after transplant into the garden.