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Gary Lipton Media Relations Manager Phone: 1-(800)-222-5551 Fax: 1-(800)-990-4329 Web site: www. napsnet .com e-mail: printmedia@napsnet.com #2669 North American Precis Syndicate, Inc., 415 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017 Soup Up Your Yard With Homegrown Superfruits (NAPSA)—Superfruits—fruits that are exceptionally rich in vitamins and antioxidants—are popular ingredients in a variety of healthy foods. Fortunately, although “superfruit” connotes something rare and exotic, a surprising number of these plants, including aronia, elderberry and goji berry, are hardy shrubs that can be grown right in your backyard. They’re easy to grow and require no spraying or complicated pruning and produce pound after pound of juicy, nutritious fruit every year. Aronia Aronia is a large shrub native to eastern North America. With showy white flowers in spring and blazing red leaves in autumn, it makes an excellent choice for landscaping around your home. Large clusters of glossy black berries ripen in late summer, making aronia a standout in the kitchen as well as the garden. The fruits are sometimes known as chokeberries because of their very sour flavor but they can be sweetened and used in juice, jam, desserts, even wine, which makes it even easier to savor their high levels of antioxidants and vitamins. In fact, they’ve been enjoyed in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and Russia for decades. Aronia tolerates winter temperatures as low as -40 F, and does best when planted where it will get at least six hours of sun each day. Elderberry Elderberry is another North American native shrub that you can count on to beautify the landscape and provide bumper crops of nutritious fruits. Black Lace elderberry can beautify the landscape and provide bumper crops of nutritious fruits. Sweet Lifeberry goji produces antioxidant-packed berries of exceptional vigor, flavor and size. Varieties that have been selected for ornamental foliage are especially useful for home gardeners, as they are even more attractive than plain green wild types. Black Lace, which was developed in England, where elderberry flowers and berries are eaten regularly, has delicate, lacy foliage in a dramatic near-black color. Black Beauty has bigger, bolder foliage but the same dark purpleblack color. Both offer large pink flowers that give way to small black berries that are very high in vitamin C; research suggests they can be effective in minimizing flu symptoms. Elderberry plants don’t mind cold weather, surviving through temperatures of -25 F, and they can grow well even in partial shade (up to four hours a day). For the most abundant elderberry harvest, you should put at least two plants in your garden. Goji Berries Goji berries are antioxidantpacked and sell for high prices at health food stores but they’re actually easy-to-grow shrubs. Also known as wolfberry, the rich pur- ple flowers appear in early summer and are followed by gleaming red berries. The plants produce fruit continuously until autumn and never need spraying or special attention. Though goji has been popular in China for many centuries, specially selected varieties have only recently become available in North America. These include Sweet Lifeberry and Big Lifeberry goji from Proven Winners ColorChoice Shrubs, and they were chosen for their exceptional vigor, flavor and size. Goji berries can tolerate temperatures as low as -20 F. They need to be grown in a sunny spot but they’re not fussy about soil and need little water or fertilizer once they’re established. They can be planted in the ground or grown in a large pot on a deck or patio. Learn More You can find all these plants at a garden center, in the fruits or the shrubs section. They cost between $20 and $50 depending on size. For further facts, tips and recipes, visit www.ProvenWinners. com/VitaminBerries. Traveling With Kids—Be Car Seat Smart (NAPSA)—Road trips with children can be daunting, but with AAA’s expert advice, your next family car trip can be both safe and fun: •Involve your children early on when planning a road trip. Let them help decide places to stop. •Give kids a map so they can see where you are and how far it is to your destination. •Remember, loose items in the car can be dangerous in a crash or just a sudden stop. Keep loose items in the trunk, a console or under a cargo net. •Be sure children are secure in the proper car seats. Each year, more than 1,000 kids die and 170,000 are injured in car crashes—but giving them the proper protection will help keep them safe. Following these best practice recommendations will ensure your children are as safe as possible on the road: First, remember that the backseat is the safest place for all kids under 13. Toddlers should be kept in rear-facing seats for as long as possible, until reaching the height or weight limits of the car seat, typically around age 2. Children who have outgrown the harnesses on their forward-facing car seats can use a booster seat to help position them so the lap/shoulder belt fits properly across their hips and upper thighs and across their chest and collarbone. The American Academy of Pediatrics says children should remain in a booster seat until they have reached 4’9” in height, which is typically between ages 8 and 12. A child is ready to move from a booster seat to a lap/shoulder belt if the following criteria are met: Protect your precious cargo: Be sure your child’s car seat is properly installed and remember to use it every ride. •The child can sit all the way back against the vehicle seat; •The child’s knees can bend comfortably at the edge of the vehicle seat; •The lap/shoulder belt crosses the child’s shoulder between the neck and arm and the lap belt remains low across the thighs and hips; •And, the child can remain in this position for the duration of the ride. Before heading out on your trip, be sure that your child’s car seat is installed properly. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, three out of four car seats are incorrectly installed. It’s important to read the owner’s manual for both the vehicle and the car seat before attempting the installation. Fortunately, Certified Child Passenger Safety Technicians are available to advise you. You can find them through an AAA office, by calling (866) SEAT-CHECK or by visiting www.seatcheck.org. Another way to protect children all over the country, the experts at AAA say, is to strengthen child passenger safety laws. Learn more at www.SafeSeats4Kids.AAA.com.