Cool! :^D Thanks ppl. Now that I know it's edible..... Yummy. Sweeter than I thought it'd be. A combo of sweet apple, persimmon, &...something else...vanilla maybe. I'd expect a a stronger burst of flavor if ate a bunch at once. I had picked three fruits. two of them had only one seed. The bigger one had three seeds. When I saw the fruit on the tree, the first thing that came to mind was the strawberry tree. Thot it may have been a variety of such, when opened the fruit, as flesh texture seemed similar to it. Strawberry tree grows here in Portland, OR, too, & blooms & fruits at the same time in winter. The flesh of the fruit is a creamy texture, & a delicate, sweetish flavor, This dogwood fruit is sweeter. Not enuf flavor?! Tsk. The fruit has enuf flavor for those tongues not seared by all the processed sugar-salt-deepfried-laden junk "food." One's taste-buds are more discerning for the naturally-occurring flavors of food that grow on plants, rather than on a shelf in a store, once all that junk is cleared out of your system. So, to me, the flavor is worth the eating. I think they'd be good (& sweeter) dried.

"When is the best time to plant a tree in the ground?" See section 1 in this link: Planting a Tree or Shrub "Can one of you recommend to me a resource that tells me in plain English how to grow trees from seeds?" I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for. Are you wanting information on germinating the seeds or on routine maintenance or what? If you are wanting germination advice, try googling 'Cornus controversa germination' (without the quotation marks), and you'll get plenty of info. You can also go directly to germination reference sites found at the bottom of this link: Other Resources "...my yard has approximately 2-4" of soil over dense clay." Many trees will do well in clay IF drainage is decent (and some clay areas do drain fairly well). How is your yard's drainage? Do you end up with a lake when it rains? How does grass do in your yard (if you have a lawn)? This will give us an idea of what you are working with.

It's good to go through and work out how you see the addition working for you, but you will definitely want to get an architect involved at some point. I am preparing for an addition also. Like you, I spent a lot of time figuring how I wanted the space to work for me. I came up with a plan and the architect tweaked it based on what I wanted. I didn't know how much my addition would run, so I paid the architect to draw the initial design. I had a contractor in mind who I wanted to work with. He gave me an estimate of what he thought it would cost to build looking at the design. When I saw it was in my budget, I then paid the architect to do the construction plans, which we submitted to the city. An architect should be able to tell you if there is much savings with your last plan. I thought it would save me money to expand one of the back bedrooms into a master - i.e. Tear out part of the exterior block wall of a back room and enlarge it. The architect told me it would be cheaper and easier to just add a new structure to my current house, connected by a door. I was happy to hear this, because it was what I really wanted to do anyway. One thing is that although that half bath costs a lot to put in, I would think it would be nice to have for guests.

Yes, it is very cool. There are Monarchs all over the world. They actually aren't really at much risk of becoming extinct, at least no more than the rest of nature. What is at risk, is the miraculous migration cycle that only exists in North America. I also think it is very fun that your husband is becoming so interested in milkweed, etc. I find that most people are fascinated by Monarchs, if someone starts the conversation. I have a short video clip of two of my Monarchs eclosing on my iPad. Whenever I show it to people, they are entranced. Then I explain that I attract them to my garden and feed them my milkweed, and they want to join in the fun. I have milkweed seeds that I collected from my garden, that I can offer them to start their own Monarch patch. It really is fun. Who knows ho many of them actually follow through and plant the seeds. But, at least they have a better understanding of the situation, and can converse with others to spread the information. Martha