Had a Brandywine back in Pittsburgh. It turned a nice red-color most of the time, sometimes with a touch of magenta or maroon. My memory says that it peaked in late Oct - it usually had full color or some leaves falling when the kids were trick or treating. The shape was the same as any other red maple as far as I could tell, kinda rounded or ovalish. I liked its summer foliage too...just a nice tree. This was zone 6a, so it might be a bit later to turn in fall in your zone.

There are three Red Brandywines 1)Original variety from Landis County PA (with links to Amish). This is a regular leaf plant and may be the descendant of "Brandywine" sold by seed companies in the late 1800s. Amish bought seeds from the company and then someone got seeds from Amish families later, and even later than that it got to the seed company (from a nonamish source) that originally marketed it so is it an Amish Heirloom?. This variety is in fact somewhat rare because the market was flooded with #2 Red Brandywine for a while while the only one small heirloom seed company sold the original. 2) Red Brandywine, regular leaf. Not Landis strain. hit the market in recent times from parts unknown to me (some commercial seed farm distributed it to several seed venders). 3) Potatoleaf Red Brandywine. Mislabeled variety from Seeds by Design seed farm. Unusual in that it is one of very few varieties (only one on the market now?) having red fruits on a potatoleaf plant. All of the pink potatoleaf varieties originated with Dorris Sudduth as a family heirloom (at least 100 years ago by now). Seedsman Ben Quisenberry in Ohio got seeds from her and distributed them, but it is probable that there was some crossing in Quisenberry's garden and the variety was not stable, so from that point on several strains of the pink have developed. One of the best of these was stabilized by a small seed company on on Long Island and is known as Brandywine Sudduth's strain 9or Quisenberry strain). The modern term "Brandywine" refers to the pink potatoleaf variety. Others are "Red Brandywine". Anything else with Brandywine in the name is a cross with Brandywine or Red Brandywine as a parent. Shah was a sport of Mikado (somatic mutation changing color from pink to yellow). Both are potatoleaf, and neither is red so they could not be parents of Red Brandywine. Mikado was one of the earliest pink potatoleaf commercial varieties, so it could be the origin of the Brandywine grew by the Sudduth family, but since the names are not the same it is only speculation, and there is no way to link it to a specific breeder or seed seller.

It was quite by accident that I came about the Ruumi Baanjan seeds, but I ranked it #3 out of all my tomatoes for taste last year, and my wife ranked it #1. If there is a downside to this variety, it is that there is not enough meat in it to make a good processing tomato, even though it is so thin skinned that a few turns in the blender are all that is needed to have the skins evaporate. Good juice tomato, poor sauce, great fresh eating. About 1/3 of the tomatoes were yellow-orange in a kind of sunburst, while the rest were straight yellow. And since all three plants gave that trait I am wondering if it has something to do with sun or heat. I will grow those seeds (which I separated by tomato color) in different areas of the yard to see how they do.

Leaf does look like a potato leaf. I bought it from the Rutgers University plant sale, you'd think that those guys would get the plant labels right and it wouldn't be mixed up. I guess its fine, its a tomato after all :) Wonder what type it is though. Any tomato detectives able to identify? p.s. ignore the wall of lemon balm leaves behind the plant - my landscaped area around the vegetable bed is absolutely swamped with lemon balm. Edit: Here's a link that confuses me even more - Brandywine red with potato leaf? Brandywine (Red) Potato Leaf #3642 (30 seeds) This is a version of Brandywine that offers red fruit with luscious old-time, red tomato flavor. Plants have potato-shaped leaves and are extremely productive, bearing long harvests of these 10 to 16 ounce fruit. Heirloom from the late 1800's. Indeterminate. 80 days.