Last week's shrub was Loropetalum chinensis. No one guessed it. Better luck this week!

Here are your hints for this week :

• This edible fruit is a cross between two other common fruits
• They are sometimes marketed as "dinosaur eggs"
• One of the best natural sources of Vitamin A
• The sugar content is higher than either of its' parent fruits

Good luck!

It rained here this weekend - I was so excited! The nights are getting cooler. Fall is almost here - it's time to start preparing for it.

Marie Iannotti, our Gardening Guide, offers a gardening calendar for September. Now is the time to start wrapping up the gardening season for many places, and to get your plants ready for winter and next spring.

Congrats to Katrina - she guessed correctly that last week's Mystery tree was Theobroma cacao - where cocoa beans come from, and thus chocolate. Mmmmm!

Have you ever used this week's mystery shrub? It's beautiful!. Some hints:

• Leaves can come in either bright green, purple, or pink-green.
• This shrub is related to one of the shrubs I have already written a profile about.
• It's Latin name is derived from the Greek words for "little straps" and "petals" due to the appearance of the flowers.
• This shrub is native to China, Southeast Asia and Japan.

Good luck!

I love learning new facts about other cultures. While I was working on my profile for the Japanese maple, I discovered that the Japanese people sometimes deep fry the leaves and make them into sweets. I am intrigued now and will have to find a recipe so I can try them.

Many people are familiar with the lovely Japanese maple tree. They are renowned for their leaves that may come in many colors and textures. Some are very delicate and lacy, while others look like the standard maple leaf that you know. They are a standard tree used for bonsai. Someday I want to create a Japanese garden for my house so I can use many varieties of the Japanese maple. What varieties of Japanese maple do you like?