My guess too. I was in D.C. about five years ago and was amazed at how often Nandina is used there. The berries, though, are held aloft of the plant usually, and typically in clusters more open than, say, grapes. Scott

For food, you may like to try growing blueberries. They grow very large in the South. I do not know what "SLN" is, but I recommend buying plants here. If you live in North Georgia try Johnson's fruit. They are not cheap, but they are good and you will have good plants that will grow and feed you well. Nanking Cherry (I have bought some on eBay very inexpensively as tiny plants, they grow fairly quickly). Elderberry Aronia: try Viking, it's 6' tall where as nero is only 4' tall Serviceberry mulberry are good however they are weedy as all get out and you could end up with a forest that you and your neighbors do not want. Chicksaw and American plums will do you very well Flowering quince shrubs - they can get to 10' tall and will fruit Goumi Hazelnuts Washington and Cockspur Hawthorn (although my washington hawthorn died very quickly as bugs LOVED it) pineapple guava (depending on where you live) Pomegranite (depending on where you live) If you are in the N. GA mountains I think you could probably do very fine with currant bushes too GGG

Could've been Burning Bush (Euonymus alata). Once the leaves drop, small bright red berries remain. It is considered invasive in some areas, including the Mid-Atlantic area (and pops up on the side of the road): Viburnums are very good berry producing shrubs. The birds especially appreciate the native ones. I had a group of robins feasting on my Viburnum acerifolium berries yesterday.

Yes thanks, of course, lol! The only close call I've had so far was when I picked some berries off a Rusty Blackhaw and popped one in my mouth. After chewing it a bit though, I noticed the seed inside seemed different than usual. So, I looked more closely and realized that I had accidentally picked a berry off a Virginia Creeper vine that had entwined itself up on the branch. The 2 berries actually look very similar in color and size (Rusty Blackhaw vs Virginia Creeper). Except that the first is quite edible and the latter is quite toxic (sometimes even fatal)! Fortunately - I had immediately spit it out and suffered no ill effects (since I didn't actually swallow any of it). But, I did learn a good lesson in foraging - to always check what you are actually picking! Anyways, I went back yesterday to smash & sniff some of these Skunkbush Sumac leaves and sample a few more berries. And this time, the berries did live up to their online rep! They definitely packed a strong, sour punch - and were less peppery too. Maybe because I had tasted these fresh (I didn't try the others until I first researched them after I got home), or the other ones were just "duds?" I don't know? Yet they weren't puckeringly, acidicly sour either...but somehow still pleasant-tasting like sweetarts. Although I wouldn't describe them as sweet at all...just that somehow their sourness seemed a little offset by something. As far as the leaves went - I crushed one up and didn't smell any foul aroma. It did emit a fairly strong, "herby, planty" smell...unlike many leaves that have no odor at all. But it wasn't stinky. So, I was admittedly a bit disappointed - and may have to try another sample again later, lol.