I live in Montgomery County, Maryland, just outside the beltway around Washington, D.C. Western and central Maryland have a healthy bear population. In recent years there have been occasions, usually in late summer, when the young males start to wander from the areas where they were born and grew up. One ended up on the nearby campus of NIH (the National Institutes of Health), another in an area a bit west of that. The one that ended up at NIH probably passed right by the back of my garden because my garden abuts Rock Creek Park. The park flows through the outer parts of Montgomery County and from there past my house and past NIH. So it's a sort of conduit for country wildlife into the city (Washington, D.C.}The NIH bear ended up in a tree; rescue crews sedated it and released it far enough out that it would not again wander into trouble. Who would have thought: bears here in the DC suburbs! Forty years ago we used to laugh at the "deer crossing" signs the park people put up. None of us had ever seen deer in the park. Their well fed descendants now gather in my garden - sometimes in groups of five or seven - to give pruning demonstrations. But bears: I'm hoping I get to see one in my garden eventually. They are welcome to sow seeds wherever they please! Jim McKenneyMont..... you've got it above. _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…