Most people don't use (or think to use) the food sources that are available...I'm not even talking about dandelion greens or other not-in-your-face sources. We have fig, pecan, and wild raspberry/blackberry plants all over where I live. Very few people tap these resources, even when it's made clear they can. It ends up on the ground as trash or animal/bird food. Many trees/shrubs selected for street plantings are chosen for their growth habit, resistance to heat/pollution stress, low nutrient need, rooting habits if near pavement, and how little "mess" they make. They're there for a calming/improvement/visual effect more-so than any other reasons we install plants in urban areas. I've been in other cities where citrus is planted in parking lots...even in the parking lot of grocery stores...and the ground is littered with dropped/ripe fruit waiting for a cleaning crew to bag and toss it. When you're planning public space, how the public actually uses it guides what's going on. One of the most mind-blowingly simple, yet genius things I've seen with how a local university does public planning of walkways is leaving a huge span of green space without walkways and letting the students, themselves, beat a path through the grass showing the designers where they should lay paths rather than defining it for the public. It's so simple, yet so effective.

I'm there with ya, on that. It seems like palms are harder for people to fathom than bananas for some reason, and that's what's great about growing tropical type plants. It really makes people stop and rethink something they thought was impossible. Right now in my zone 9 inland northern California(110F at mid summer) the M.basjoo is just done putting out its first leaf(no fert yet), and none of the pseudostem was frozen back. I think you guys towards the east have the US's prime banana weather. Not to mention most of the west's wet cold freezes. Is the east coast always early to wake up or do you protect your stems also?

These are (supposedly)actual comments made by 16 Police Officers. The comments were taken off actual police car videos around the country: 1. "You know, stop lights don't come any redder than the one you just went through." 2. "Relax, the handcuffs are tight because they're new. They'll stretch after you wear them a while." 3. "If you take your hands off the car, I'll make your birth certificate a worthless document." 4. "If you run, you'll only go to jail tired." 5. "Can you run faster than 1200 feet per second? Because that's the speed of the bullet that'll be chasing you." 6. "You don't know how fast you were going? I guess that means I can write anything I want to on the ticket, huh?" 7. "Yes, sir, you can talk to the shift supervisor, but I don't think it will help. Oh, did I mention that I'm the shift supervisor?" 8. "Warning! You want a warning? OK, I'm warning you not to do that again or I'll give you another ticket." 9. "The answer to this last question will determine whether you are drunk or not. Was Mickey Mouse a cat or a dog?" "Fair? You want me to be fair? Listen, fair is a place where you go to ride on rides, eat cotton candy and corn dogs and step in monkey poop." "Yeah, we have a quota. Two more tickets and my wife gets a toaster oven." "In God we trust; all others we run through NCIC." "Just how big were those 'two beers' you say you had?" "No sir, we don't have quotas anymore. We used to, but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we can." "I'm glad to hear that the Chief (of Police) is a personal friend of yours. So you know someone who can post your bail." AND THE WINNER IS.... "You didn't think we give pretty women tickets? You're right, we don't. Sign here."

I would have laughed out loud, but IÂve seen this joke before. ItÂs still funny. It also followed every criterion for posting on the GardenWeb and ThatHomeSite forums. Homemadecountrylife  you may have found this particular post offensive  but you donÂt get to police this forum. This is a commercially run forum. If you donÂt like it, well, leave. The moderators of IVillage do police the forum, and see nothing wrong with the post. I found your post more offensive than the original post, simply because you are trying to force your viewpoint on others. If you donÂt want to read this stuff  then just donÂt. This forum is certainly not meant for children, so don't expose your toddler to it.