Yes! I have eaten fresh gingko biloba leaves right off my tree. They have a somewhat bitter flavor that was a bit of shock but not unpleasant once I was ready for it. I find putting the leaves into my morning coffee grind with the whole beans makes them almost undetectable in the coffee and really gives me a wonderful intellegent edge all day. But of course they are no longer fresh. The research shows you get the most benefit from leaves that are just turning golden in the fall, just before they fall off the tree. That's when I try to collect my supply for the year, from trees that have not been treated in any way. Now that I am eating daily fresh green salads, I should experiment adding fresh gingko leaves. Thanks for the reminder. I will be interested in learning if fresh gives you more benefit over dried. Hugs. Hope this helps.

Hmm, I'm trying to remember if I've smelled anything bad when walking by the squashed fruit. (People walk all over them on the downtown sidewalk.) Haven't noticed it if it does, but nothing beats putting a lot of something in one place to really solidify a bad smell if there is one, lol! Fortunately I have a LOT of browns to counteract it. I'll have to watch for seedlings, but I'm used to that at my house. The squirrels hide pecans in my plant beds and I find them the next year when they've already got amazingly extensive tap roots. And the occasional sweet gum seedling, too. I've e-mailed them, Paul, thanks for the suggestion. I'll let you know what they say.

I would definitely go with Nyssa sylvatica (also called tupelo and black gum). It is a lovely tree that doesn't have a bad season. The leaves are smooth and glossy. The form of young trees is lovely with horizontal limbs and reflective gray bark. The tree has great fall color over a long period of time. The leaves are often shades of deep orange to deep red. In my area, the tupelos or black gum trees are one of the last trees to lose leaves - they usually hold leaves until early December. I checked my native tree books - tupelo or black gum ranges from Ontario to southern Maine, through the eastern U.S. to FL, west to Texas so it should be happy in southeast Mass. It prefers acidic soil but adapts to many soil types and climate extremes. It tolerates upland and lowland sites so is very adaptable. The tree has a taproot which makes it more difficult to move. You are advised to find a young container grown tree. You may have difficulty finding it locally. I've ordered young trees from Shooting Star nursery in KY. (link below) If you to to Dave's Garden at http://davesgarden.com/ I'm sure you will find other nurseries that have this tree. Depending on your climate, fall or early spring is the best time to plant. Here is a link that might be useful: Shooting Star Nursery

@ Glaswegian. Looking at your second picture, I have a couple of comments about your planted tree. 1) A newly planted tree should never need so many ties to the stakes. One should be lots and it usually is not needed. the lowest rope is never needed. You want the tree to move a bit in the wind to strengthen it's roots. 2) You have had the tree for a year now - it is time to take all ties off. 3) From the picture it looks as if the tree is still in burlap. this should be removed at planting time. At this point, I would dig down to see if any roots have come out of teh burlap. I would not expect this to be the case. if there are no roots outside the burlap, I would dig the tree up again, remove burlap and any wire, and replant the tee. This should be done in either spring or fall. 4) I see a cone of soil/burlap around the trunk of the tree. This is not a good thing. the tree should be planted so that soil is flat around the tree. the depth should be even with the point at which roots start to flar out from the tree. A lot of times this is below the soil level when a tree is put in pots.