Hi, A couple of questions: -Would hardy pricklypear cactus (Opuntia humifusa/compressa) be the only hardy pricklypear to endure zone 6 winters? -Would sweetshoot bamboo (Phyllostachys dulcis) be suitable for zone 6? -Comment: Pawpaw, Asimina spp. (including Asimina triloba), contains the compounds associated with increased risk of atypical Parkinson's; you'd have to it is frequently enough, I would suppose. -Comment: I believe that ginko nuts must be eaten in moderation - I remember reading some materials describing them as toxic to some extent. I wonder if making tea out of the leaves would be a good thing, however. -I know Lucky has some varieties survive his zone 6 winters, but anyone have any varieties of Pomegranates survive zone 6, 6a or 5b? - and fruit? -What are the best Amelanchier spp./Juneberries/Serviceberries w/regards to taste? I think that the only berries I absolutely loved must have been A. alnifolia - 5' thin suckered bushes with dark, sugar-sweet berries; the A. canadensis and A. canadensis x laevis I've tasted are not as good as what ever variety that happened to have been. -Will American hazelnut/filbert & American beaked hazelnut hybridize with the European species? -If I were able to obtain a true American Chestnut selected from a stand that showed great disease resistance, would the taste hold up to the Chinese and/or English varieties? -In comparison to a straight D. virginiana or D. kaki, would there be any taste improvement in the hybridization between American x Asian persimmon? -Would you think that a fully ripe Wild Mandrake/Mayapple would be at all toxic; or would it be risky if consumed in excess? -What are cold-hardy, reliable varieties of Black Mulberry (M. nigra)? [non-hybrids] -In zone 6b, my 'Brown Turkey' Fig never dies back to the ground; I do nothing to protect it. -I purchased a grafted D. kaki 'Saijo' and a friend of mine showed me his orchard containing grafted Asian persimmons - the grafts reject after several years; he explained that if you had an American x Asian hybrid as the inter-connection between the D. virginiana rootstock and D. kaki scion, the graft would last indefinitely. I hope the tree will last, contrary to this - probably won't. -Are the berries of native/American shrub-dogwoods and tree dogwoods (other then the toxic Cornus florida - Flowering Dogwood) really edible? C. sericea/stolon., C. alternifolia, etc.? -Besides Black Oak, any other good oak nuts? -I'll contribute a few I can think of here (edibles): Salmonberry, Thimbleberry, 2 varieties of Ligonberries - American/European, Bearberries, Wild Wintergreen Berries, Berberries spp., (water lily and lotus/parts, arrowhead/parts, pickerelweed/parts, Acorus - sweetflag, not iris!), various man-made blackberry x raspberry hybrids, the man-made 'jostaberry' - ribes spp., a wide array of vaccinium spp. (blueberries, deerberries, bilberries, false huckleberries), Garden Huckleberry (not a huckleberry), varieties of cranberry, Akebia, Orange trifoliate, Crabapple spp., nuts: chinquapin, species of hazelnut/walnut/varieties of hickory (including pecans), forbs: daylily species, various flowers, Monkey Puzzle Pine, Pine Nut species, syrup from Walnut & Maple species, Prinsepia, Asparagus, Globe Artichoke, Jerusalem Artichoke, various greens, various man-made stone fruit hybrids, foxgrape (including 'Concord' & 'Neptune'), purple passionflower, Mountain Ash species, Aronia spp., Western Sandcherry, Buffaloberries, native Silverberries, Sala, Yuka spp., Magnolia virginiana for tea - leaves and culinary, chokecherry, wild black cherry, pin/fire cherry, American wild plum, Chickasaw plum, Beach plum, cloudberry/bakeapple berry, smooth & staghorn sumac, teas from birches, American larch, and others - be cautious, tall & stinging nettle tea, the species of Jujube, Streptopus amplexifolius - I forgot the name - I call it watermelon berry, but it's not the above mentioned Che/Melonberry which is a good one to have. ____ When you think about it, there really are only a few fruits out there: Apple (4 types), brown or green Pear, Cherry otherwise know as Bing or Yellow Cherry, Melon, Apricot, Nectarine, Orange, Grapefruit, Grape, Kiwi, Plum, and Pineapple - if you don't believe me, just go to the supermarket or your local cooperate sponsored fruit consumption advocacy materials. Well, they do have around 5 other rare ones: Starfruit, Date, Fig, and Fruit-roll-up Fruit.

Lila, Ptelea trifoliata is a very tricky plant to grow. My biggest plant didn't make any new growth this spring, so I cut it back to the ground, because plants have done the same thing in the past and come back vigorously several years later. The plant in the picture is in a container, and I think the place I plan to plant it is ideal, which is what you need to grow a good wafer ash! I plan to order two more, maybe three more, for the raised bed where I plan on planting this one. They need mostly shade down here, probably more sun up north, plenty of water but good drainage and rich soil that you fertilize, preferably with chicken manure. The fact that this one is doing so well in a container makes me think it'll do well in a raised bed. My others have all been planted right in the ground, and they didn't do well in wet weather. I can also work chicken manure into the soil around the plant in a raised bed much more easily than in the ground. Let's hope growing it that way works well! I've got tons of rue, and no BST or GST has laid an egg on any of it. I've transferred some of the GST cats to it, and the BSTs had to finish up on it, due to me not having enough mock-bishop's weed. And I don't know how many more new MBW plants are going to come up, since the cats have eaten most all the seeds. There are some left on the bottom parts of the plants that I left. I need to look for MBW growing roadside and get seeds to sow in my garden. My BSTs have all pupated, as have all the gulf frits, so now I'm just raising the giant swallowtail cats and one spicebush swallowtail. I've recently released four spicebush swallowtails, two males and two females - they've been common this year, I'm still finding more eggs. I'm jealous of those silvery checkerspots of yours, Lila! And you get bordered patches don't you? They don't even occur here! :( Sherry

Wish I had seen that link on Amazon. I bought the expensive way. $50 seemed cheap when the used ones were going for $106. My search included "scott" so I missed the cheap ones. Sometimes I catch the cheaper way and sometimes I don't. :( As for PC compatible, when are you going to learn how to run Windows software on your Apple? I knew people doing it back in the '90s and it is actually easier to do it these days. Crash different. :D

About the only butterflies I'm seeing this year are the Pipevine swallowtails and that's because they're using the scores of little Aristolochia fimbriata plants I've planted throughout the garden. As they strip one I have to carry the caterpillars to another. Nothing has touched the Passiflra caerulea that has fed many generations of Gulf fritillaries, nor have they used the several small native Texas passion vines which are usually eaten to the ground. I've seen only one Gulf frit and it did not lay eggs. I haven't seen but maybe one or two skippers but no sulfurs although I have senna for them, no giant swallowtails, no buckeyes, and I have host plants for them; not even one little hairstreak has been seen, nor any cabbage whites. No Monarchs either. Nothing has used the fennel. There were a few Painted ladies this spring. The only thing using the many nectar plants are bumblebees, a few honey bees and the Pipevine swallowtails. It seems very strange not to have butterflies everywhere, but according to these articles it's happening not only in the US, but in the UK as well. Here, here and here are recent articles that discuss the dearth of butterflies.