What about Euonymus, like 'Emerald Gaiety' ? For a pic, see for ex. http://www.naturehills.com/new/product/shrubs_productdetails.aspx?proname=Burning+Bush+-+Emerald+Gaiety I believe that Euonymus are pretty adaptable to soil conditions (my parents grow some and their soil is about as heavy in clay as you can get). I also think that the cream edging on the leaves would look good with the color of your house, it's evergreen, and you can prune it or not (full height is about 3 feet, I think). So it would cover the foundation but not overpower the house.

Hi -- I know some of the answers to your questions. American plum self-fertile -- seems to be. I had 2 and then cut down one after it got old and started to go - the other still seems to bear well. There are other plums around the yard, plus various wild Prunus species in the neighborhood, plus various oranmental plum and sandcherries in the neighborhood as well. 2) 5 x 5 foot size. Yeah, I don't see a real problem with it. My 2 American plum seedlings grew naturally to about 7 to 8 feet max, with probably a 6 to 8 foot spread. So, with a little pruning, probably not too much of a problem. 3) Partial shade -- definitely. My surviving one is in about 2/3rds shade now, as the trees around it have gotten larger, and it seems perfectly happy as an understory type tree. It still gets pretty good light because the two trees near it are a Kentucky Coffe and a Sycamore, and both don't start to branch until very high off the ground. 4) Taste -- Well, the fruits of my plum are quite tasty when fully ripe and slightly soft. They have a bit of astringency when not fully ripe. They make wonderful plum sauce, jelly, baked tarts, etc. I've never had the Chickasaw plum, so can't comment. I did plant a beach plum last year, but it's still only a foot tall.

Could you be more specific then about what you are looking for? Are you wanting to mix them with other fruit of some kind? Otherwise most all the recipes for Plum Jams are the same - nothing more than the plums and various amounts of sugar. In other words, nothing unique. And wild plums are used just like any other plums and nothing unusual is required. You can mix them with just about any other fruit in equal proportions if you want something special and no specific recipe is needed. And BBB has a good recipe for Plum Conserve with orange pulp, orange peel, raisins, and chopped pecans. Page 32 in current edition. And Small Batch Preserving has a Plum Amaretto Jam. But those are the only unusual ones I can find in any of my books. Dave

This intrigued me....I had to go to Wikipedia to see what it was!! Now I'm thinkin' I want some! Do you have any rooting horomone? If not, it can be found at WM and it's somewhere between $5 & $10 a bottle...which will probably last you and your offspring for the rest of any natural lives. I've used this to propogate a beloved rose bush that's past saving and I have a friend that has started a whole hedge of Nanking Cherries using this. Of course, the twigs are staight cut and much shorter. AND the cutting is then placed under a large quart size mason jar until the weather warms. (a southern take on the french cloche (sp?) method). Maybe if you dipped the bare no-root ends and kept them watered they would take off? If you just planted them today, I don't think they would suffer much of a set-back if you did this in a few days. Just my thoughts. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Paula