permaculture

[Jason Gerhardt <jasongerhardt@gmail.com>]

Koreen,
I here ya on the black locust and toxicity. I've had a mustang for the last
8 years and know the sensitivity of the horses gut well. Though mustangs
are much hardier than most other breeds.

All the Amelanchiers do great in Colorado. I even plant the allegeny
species (Eastern deciduous forest native). For fruit quality, of them all I
like the cultivated alnifolias. It truly depends on the person though. I do
taste tests with my students and they all choose different once that they
like better than the others. Eric Toensmeier and I agree that the
cultivated alnifolias are best in taste, so that may say something. I also
really like 'Regent' which is a stolonifera/alnifolia cross. They do better
with a little more water though. The wild ones are still worth growing, but
more for home use. Amelanchiers are truly one of my favorite plants and
fruits so I've tried practically every cultivar out there. My favorite
being Martin, Northline, Smoky, and Regent, and Autumn Brilliance
(allegeny).

The linden flowers are best harvested before they start to make fruits,
which happens very quickly, so timing is everything. The less fruit
development the higher per oz my local herb shop will pay. We dry them,
only takes about two days on a screen in the shade. They are used for all
kinds of simple calmative reasons. When I lived in France, linden flowers
were extremely popular as a soothing tea. It sells faster than most other
herbs at my local apothecary (not quite as fast as our annual local
passionflower harvest).

-- 
Jason Gerhardt

PO Box 4355
Boulder, CO 80306
303-258-7982