Taxonomically I would agree that ours could be regarded as var. americanum and European stock as var. opulus. Unfortunately varietal status is sometimes seen as not being ecologically significant by the laymen. I lament to have never seen our native Highbush Cranberry in the wild, and I have examined dozens of plants in NY and IL. There are some really nice compact cultivars available and most seem to have palatable, albeit rather sour, fruit. The typical var. opulus has horrendously bitter fruit. I am curious if the same holds true for our native plants, but won't know until I find one.

This is a wonderful thread, and though I missed it while on vacation, I want to add a couple thoughts to what's already been said. Isn't it interesting that the "maturing process" is so similar no matter where you live? veggies, to blooms, to foliage, to shrubs....pastels to brights, to chartreuse.... I started gardening with vegetables only, because we, too, needed the food back then. Over the years, as my children grew up and away and I had more time for the pure pleasure of gardening, I got completely into ornamentals and nearly completely away from vegetables. But two years ago I read the book "The Bountiful Container" and began growing veggies again, but this time in pots. I have thoroughly enjoyed having small amounts of food that I don't have to can and that grow right outside my kitchen door. I can step outside and just pick what I need for a meal at a moment's notice. Like so many of you, I, too, am very concerned about the environment, and growing veggies in containers is one more small contribution I feel I can make, along with xeriscaping and limiting chemicals. We are learning to eat whatever is in season as much as possible. (Granted, I live in the south, so I can grow something nearly year round, which is probably not possible for you northerners. Still, part of the year is better than none.) So....I guess you could say I have come full circle, though I still love my ornamentals best. The truth is, veggies in pots is a great concept in another way: they don't take up any bed space so I still have my flowers:) By the way, kato, I don't care for spireas either, but Ogon is altogether different. It's wonderful!

My friend Dan writes this: Bamboos do pretty well in pots. If you are in an area where Winter freezes occur be sure to get a variety that can handle the cold or protect it. As for bamboo being aggressive you can find varieties that do not "run". They are known as clumpers since they send a shoot out an inch or so then produce a cane. This does not always apply but as a rule of thumb if the cane has a flat spot in the round of the cane, it is a runner. If the cane is perfectly round, it is a clumper. I have some that I planted four or five years ago that were in gallon pots. Now they cover an area of about three feet in diameter each but are about eighteen feet tall. The luxury of it is that you cannot see through them due the amount of canes is such a small area. They make a great natural fence. I have yet to see bamboo bloom but I know they will and produce seed. Most varieties die after a bloom which causes problems for Panda Bears in China. A whole grove will bloom then die leaving the Pandas without their main source of food. (little trivia)

Thank you, sjerin and everyone who has said such nice things. About the yogurt. It is in one of the Bayou Tales...I will eventually post it here...but one of the first possums I got had metabolic bone disorder. I called a possum expert in California and consulted with her on what to do. She told me to mix a portion of all kinds of chopped vegetables with a portion of Purina Cat Chow....had to be that brand...stir it together with enough yogurt to moisten it. I hand fed the possum for weeks and she never got any better and eventually died. I found out though that all possums love yogurt...most animals do. And I started giving them all some, since it is a good source of calcium and they have high calcium requirements. The possum...well "opossum yahoo group" wouldn't let me join, but I became good friends with one of their members. If any of you ever received one of my possum Christmas cards, she designed them. She truly loved her possums...had just one at a time, but one was quite elderly....they have short life spans...at 4 yrs. old and she even took it to an acupuncturist to relieve her arthritic pains. Anyway, she was telling me about a possum she was helping rehab and they couldn't get him to take the medicine they had for him. Their method was to take one of those little Baskin Robbins Ice Cream sample spoons and try to give him the medicine from that. I told her....that's not going to work. Under the best of circumstances, possums will gape their mouths open. It is a common behavior...even tame possums will do it....it is a response to show their teeth and growl, feign they are ferocious...if that doesn't work and they can't escape, they may play dead, or even bite you. Anyway, the way to give possums medicine, you mix it in a little yogurt. They eat every bit of it. (So see, I could have taught the experts something.) :-)) I like giving it to little possums because it is very filling and even fattening. They are much less likely to chew on each other if they are full and sleepy. I have never had a possum develop metabolic bone disorder, out of the hundreds that I have raised. Meanwhile, back at the possum yahoo group, the original possum expert...the one who taught the one that I had the phone conference with...a vet in Orange County, California, who spent 17 years studying possums, died. The possums group was beside themselves because Purina changed the regular cat chow recipe in some way, and now they were afraid to use it any more. Some of them decided not to ever feed meat based foods to their possums ever again. It made me so glad that I wasn't a member of the group. I am sure I would have made many enemies because don't tell me that an animal with 50 razor sharp, triangular teeth should not eat meat. People who can't figure out simple things like that....get on my nerves. So I am not a member of their group but I am going along without them. ;) No. I don't get any vacations. In a way I don't mind because I have traveled quite a bit...but there are a few places I'd love to go again...mostly east of the Mississippi. If my husband is home, I can go like to the iris convention for Louisiana irises in Lafayette, La. It is just three days. I haven't been in awhile but would like to go next year to see my old friends. I really don't mind staying home....I love it here. I have a million things to do...I don't ever get bored. Sometimes I get sleepy though. We do plan to do some work on the place, as soon as my husband can get back to work. If I was better set up to take care of all the animals...chickens, horses, possums, pigs...it would be a lot easier. My husband was very sick with a UTI about two weeks ago. I didn't sleep well because every time he woke up, I woke up, and he was so very sick and it was so stressful, and I felt so run down when he finally did get well. I am just now getting my strength back. I felt so wrung out. But I am much better now. I am glad you enjoy hearing about the animals. I don't think my rehab group likes us talking about them because it is their fear that someone will think they make good pets, but I always tell people, they aren't good pets, but I think by writing about them, it helps some people to understand them a little better.