Not as familiar with A. glabrum but A. grandidentatum is basically a small, heat/drought tolerant version of Sugar Maple. Tolerates alkaline soil & is still about zone 4 hardy. There seems to be little evidence how well they do under a humid East/Midwest climate, but I'd imagine they're worth trying. There is a cultivar 'Highland Park' also that is supposedly a hybrid with "regular" Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) that was developed in Ohio, which *should* suggest at least the hybrid, if not the "straight" A. grandidentatum, would do OK in the East or Midwest.

Hi Rocky Mountain Corn Project. Thanks for the informative post. I have a 12" long x 8" wide shed that I want to retrofit for a 3-season greenhouse or even a 4-season greenhouse eventually if that's possible with thermal mass and planning, and further retrofitting over time. Just like plantladyco I live at 6000 feet elevation. It has, as you described, two angled south-facing roof surfaces (roughly 30 and 60 degrees from the ground, respectively. Should I plan to glaze the south-facing vertical section below the roof as well? How much do you think this project will run me in materials? I'm pretty handy.

Okay, here's the start. I made this too hard. The first pic is of Cheryl....cnetter. She brought a great salad and the plants to create it. Next is YAGO...go see his explantion on the name. We thoroughly enjoyed a guy with us, especially him, he was great to have around and put up with all our chatter. "Our Mentor" is Skybird...Dee. Petite, so darn organized, she puts us all to shame. Love her in person as much as here on RMG. Voice of Spring is our host "Charlene", SingCharlene. And she does "sing". Both her and her husband have CDs out which you can do a search on ITunes if you want to listen. She gave out CDs to each of us....a sweet voice and wonderful music. Deck the Halls is "LindyLoo". A teeny, cute little lady that gardens on the deck. I have been intrigued with her gardening since knowing she grows raspberries in pots. She brought tons of seeds and veg. plants. Find the first 3: is Nancy my ride, the rose lady and a wonderful laid back easy going gal. Our lady is "Billy_Ladybug". She had deviled eggs from her chickens...we kept eating as much as talking plants. Also enjoyed her friend. My Pic's mom is Cydy, "Bloomingamyrilis". So darn cute and such fun, she kept herself busy all the time. We may have ignored her a bit spending so much time doing our thing. I have more than a few pics of her if you are interested Cydny. Beauty is just that, a really pretty gal with long flowing hair. She must have been quieter than the rest of us louder than loud...again. Help me out here as I must apologize for missing the name. Did I do better than you Skybird? Oh..and one more addition to our group. I loved him.

Fascinating! I only ever thought of barley as an old world crop, the kind essential to brewing beer ;). In fact the only cereal grain I had ever heard about coming from the Americas was corn. How very interesting! You could probably throw sunflowers into that mix as well. Though, the reading I have done follows yours in that many of the plants such as sunflowers and goosefoot (chenopodium, which would fall in the amaranth family), weren't necessarily "cultivated" but sort of "followed" human habitation and agriculture. Kind of an Indian version of "weed cuisine" haha. I also was reading an interesting article on peppers from NSS a little while back. While chilies were gathered and used frequently by the Indians in places like Mexico, further north, in areas like the Four Corners region, they never really caught on. The Indians there preferring a more "bland" diet.