JJD - I get plants given to me all the time so some of what I grow I am just re-telling what someone told me, could be true, could be wrong... RIght now I have in the ground two 'Compacta' (they are grown by a local wholesale-only nursery - Pender Nursery, I get mine at our local university's horticulture student plant sale when they have them, about every other year); I have two 'Russian', one I bought at Edible Landscaping in VA, the other someone gave to me; I have one given to me that came from a local Indian Plant Nursery (this area has a large SE Asian population), and as an ornamental I have a 'State Fair' which is a tiny bush style plant that blooms and fruits as long as the temps are warm - a beauty but the fruit is very sour and small. In a pot I have my Angel Red - which died to the ground too many times, so I dug it up and keep it in the greenhouse now. Around town (Raleigh, NC) you can find pom's growing as parking lot trees. I think the asphalt helps keep them warm. People rarely get to the fruit before the squirrels. Our local Lebanese deli has a few that their grandfather brought to the US ages ago. They look like one of the many Russian varieties. Most people around here say you have better luck with the Russian types (some are named, some are sold as Russian) which tend to not be as sweet as the warm climate types.

I'll trade a Kiwi sucker for a Goldie sucker! I'm finding Kiwi Gold to be an excellent plant. It is a Heritage, disease resistant, large berries, upright nature. It can hold fruit up w/o trellis. Mine is trellised, but it is not tied to it. The berries are sweeter than Fall Gold. I have both right here. I also have Anne, and they are just as sweet as Anne. That plant though needs a trellis no doubt. Kiwi is a lot more vigorous too. First year for Anne and Kiwi Gold. Anne has one fruiting cane, and Kiwi Gold has 4 canes producing. That could be position, or original plant size. But Kiwi was the worst bare root I have ever seen when it arrived. Completely dry in straight peat, full of white growth. I really didn't expect it to survive, but it not only survived it produced 4 fruiting canes. The florocanes usually fruit too, but it was so bad it died. I thought it was a goner, but then new canes arose out of the ground. Fruit when ripe is a darker yellow (not orange) than Fall, or Anne. It seems many yellows just go off the market. In the UK they also have orange and whites. Many of those are gone from there too. Next year I'll have two additional yellows fruiting, Honey Queen, and Cascade Gold.

I would recommend musa basjoo that you can leave outside during winter. If you don't protect it, it will regrow from the roots, since they are very cold hardy. However, if you want to have more beautiful and taller specimens, you have to protect them from the cold. Another quite interesting and nice looking one is musa velutina that quite cold hardy as well. Personnaly I have never left it outside during winter. What is particularly nice with this one is that it can flower in one growing season, even in cold climates. Mine flowered indoors in October! If you want to bring them back indoors, your choice is bigger. Good luck with banana growing, Nicolas, Switzerland

Check out this site. Opuntia basilaris, opuntia aciculata, Opuntia macrocentra , Opuntia fragiles, opuntia polycantha, Opuntia cacanapa var elisisiana, And so many cylindropuntia.. OH, Forget listening to me go to this site and check it out, Lithops, Rio grande Cactus, and Intermountain cactus are also good places to check out...High Country Gardens has cold hardy cactus too. They are in New Mexico Here is a link that might be useful: Cold hardy cactus nursery