GALION, OH (CRAWFORD COUNTY NOW) – Marty Weithman’s home bursts with color year-round, but this year her rhododendron was again the showstopper.
The towering, flowering shrub on the southwest corner of the lot peaked with perfection in May. Purple flowers and green leathery leaves that always add a pop of color to the property, and a bring smile to her face.
Just like it has for nearly 50 years.
“It’s one of our favorites, that’s for sure,” said Marty, who is dwarfed in size by the 13-by-13-foot flowering perennial. “We always take pictures of it whenever someone’s here. We get a lot of compliments on it, but it only blooms maybe a month or so.”
Marty and her late husband, Ray Weithman, Sr., planted the rhododendron several years after they and their four children moved to Downing Place. “We planted other ones around, but they were really sparse, and this one just kept growing and growing.”
“We never put any fertilizer down or anything. It just took off from there,” Marty continued. “When it got so tall, we were all like, ‘wow.’ We didn’t expect it to get that big.”
Ray, an architect, designed the two-story home, which was built by Weithman Bros. Construction. They moved in early 1971 and slowly started landscaping, getting tips on planting and pruning from workshops they took at Mansfield’s Kingwood Center.
“They helped us realize that we needed different color and texture to make the lot look nice,” Marty recalled. “Early on we planted different trees and bushes, adding more each year as we could afford. Little by little we added all these trees that are here.”
Crabapple trees, red maples, Canadian hemlocks, birch, and oak dot the landscape, along with ornamentals like a magnolia, dogwood, and weeping cherry. “The most amazing tree we planted though was the tri-colored beech tree,” she said, pointing to its variegated leaves.
Over the years, the lot doubled in size. The house expanded too after Ray built a screened-in porch and put in a stamped concrete patio and fence. Marty planted a vegetable garden and beautified the beds, as she still does, with petunias, geraniums, and other colorful annuals.
A vibrant redbud tree and smoke bush still anchor the front walkway, along with rose bushes and clusters of ferns, yucca, and shade-loving Hosta. Crocuses, daffodils, and tulips sprout up each spring, then the seasonal show continues with azaleas, lilacs, lilies, peonies, and hydrangea.
But of all the evergreens gracing the yard, the rhododendron still reigns. “Every year when it’s in full bloom it’s nothing short of amazing,” said Ray Weithman, Jr., who mows the grass for his mother and helps maintain the meticulous grounds of the family homestead.
“It’s just this monstrous tree with these amazing blooms. It’s a stunning display every year and photo worthy, that’s for sure,” he said. “I enjoy taking care of their lawn and seeing all the different trees and shrubs as they bloom. It’s kind of amazing.”
Marty agrees. “It’s fun to watch,” she said. “This all has been a labor of love for our family and especially for God. Ray left us two years ago to enjoy his heavenly reward, but we are still enjoying the continuous bloom at our home on Downing Place. We all find peace and beauty here.”