I have a nice little row of them growing along the side of my house. I planted them last fall so they are in their first summer. They only made it to about four feet tall this year but they are a six footer so I'm expecting them to be much bigger next year. Right now they are covered with buds and will probably bloom heavily in a week or two. They are planted in sand slightly amended. They like good drainage and once established should be moderately drought tolerant. They are hardy from zone 4-9. They kind of remind me of baptisia in that they have one gorgeous flush of bloom but the foliage looks great all growing season. Adele

Ken, thanks again for your great info! I meant "Introduction", not "Information". (Short memory when I'm tired.) Thanks for the UConn site--VERY helpful for everything! I'd previously done a Google search, but had not come up with a couple of sites that appeared with yours that had good stuff. The landscaper who will put in our boulder retaining wall/long window well was over yesterday, and I told him what I had planned for planting in the area between the wall and the lot line. When I told him Canadian hemlocks and Capitata yews (on a previous thread, I'd tried to sort out which of these might be best--I figured that I had too much shade for spruces once the oak leaves were fully out), he said they'd be straggly due to the amount of shade. He said I have a perfect site for rhododendrons, which I love. (Oak tree canopy for some acidity, sandy soil for good drainage.) I'm a little confused since I thought rhodies needed less shade than yews or hemlocks. A guy at one of our largest nurseries also discouraged me from using the hemlocks--same reason. But maybe the openness of rhodies and fewer flowers in shade would be preferable to straggly yews and hemlocks? My sister has wild rhodies under pines at her house in the Poconos; don't know how close to this rhodies would look in Michigan. Right now I'm thinking to put a CN hemlock near the lot line to block the largest part of the neighbor's house on the south, and another one near the west lot line to block the opening to another neighbor's house in that direction. Then maybe scatter 3 or 4 Capitatas to block parts of the rest of their houses. And fill in randomly with tall-growing rhodies so hopefully the whole area still looks natural? Our lot and the neighbors' have lots of young to middle-aged oaks providing shade. Since some of the trees/shrubs I'm considering require "winter protection" (not sure if I'm understanding this term as it relates to my choices), will these tree trunks in the winter provide enough of a windbreak from the southwest winds? This would be along about 200' of the lot line. Would this work, or am I overcrowding things! The lot is an irregular shape, so there's enough space between the house and the lot line. I'm wondering if I might be making the LENGTH of the lot line to busy and less natural looking. I just want to screen the houses, not create a windbreak. Anne

People do eat the nuts! I tried one (the embryos that I cracked open), and they tasted a little bit like coconut, but with less taste. My son loves to eat the ripe fruit! People in Brazil, where I grew up, make all sorts of desserts with the fruit. Here in South Carolina (and in other parts of the South), people make jelly from the ripe fruit. I have also heard that some people make a sort of "coffee" from the nuts. I have MUCH more research that I need to do! Right now I am preparing the cracked nuts (I understand that you have to keep them extremely clean in order to germinate them), as well as some unbroken ones. I will see which ones germinate the best.

"save the seedlings that are sprouting under one of the palms." Wait as long as you can to let the seedling get some strength before transplanting. I don't have any Bu. c. seedlings yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if, like Phoenix's, they put down seedling root(s) as deep to much deeper than the first leaves, so you will probably be more successful with a deep, narrow rootball rather than a wide, narrow rootball. Have you seen those weed unpluggers in the gardending departement? A steel tube about 2" in diam with a handle on top and a serrated edge on the low end. Sort of like a manual hole saw. Could be a pretty could tool for unplugging seedlings as if they were weeds! :) On you first seedling or two, wash out the dirt around the seedling to "see" what root disposition is before proceeding blindly with digging up the root+dirt together.