Question: Our family entertains a lot all year round. We have large containers on the deck and the patio that I fill with annuals in the summer, but in the winter through the windows of our family room, they look so forlorn standing empty. I used to buy evergreens and plant them for the winter and then I replanted them in the garden where they did well. But I have run out of garden space. Do you have any suggestions on how to beautify these pots in winter without buying evergreens every year?

Answer: Several thoughts come to mind.

1. By transferring the evergreens in and out of your garden, you can use the same evergreens for several years. You may want to alternate every 2 years giving each evergreen over a year to recover before it has to go through the rigors of winter in an above ground container.

2. You can plant variegated vinca vine (Vinca major) around the edges of the container and it will look good in both summer and winter. Then you could put a smaller evergreen in the center and you would also use fewer bedding plants in the summer. To look really bountiful and to survive the winter, the vinca needs to be planted in the spring so it can grow all year and be well rooted before winter.

3. Cut boughs of evergreens stuck in the soil in the container make an evergreen mass that looks like a shrub. White pine is particularly long-lasting and short branches can be bundled together to look very similar to a dwarf white pine shrub.

4. For a couple of dollars you can buy enough white pine at Christmas time to do a large container. Add the vinca vine and perhaps a few miniature white lights. You will have a really nice, inexpensive display.

Question: This is my first year with Paperwhites. They grew beautifully and they were nicely fragrant, but they fell over. I would like to try some more this year. Can I still plant them? A friend told me that if I put whiskey in with the water when I start them they won't fall over. Is this true? Any suggestions you have would be welcome.

Question: A number of years ago I bought some winterberry deciduous hollies from Traditional Home magazine. To my surprise they came from you folks at Carroll Gardens. I'll bet if I had ordered them directly from you, I could have saved some money. Anyway, over the past 6 years or so the hollies have grown and matured into nice big bushes. This year when I went to gather the berries on the Winter Red the birds beat me to it. In the span of a couple of days they just about cleaned off every berry. Curiously they left the yellow berried Winter Gold alone. Do you have an idea why they ate the red berries and the yellow berries are still there - even now? Also what can I do to keep the birds away until I have gathered my red berries for next years' Christmas decorating?

When planting lavender, even in well-drained soil, I suggest amending the soil to a depth of one foot with coarse sand or pea gravel and Chesapeake Blue crab compost (Compro is a reasonable substitute). Your mixed soil should be 1/3 sand or gravel, 1/3 alkaline compost and 1/3 native soil. I suggest you also mix in some wood ashes and some Kelp Meal; no additional fertilizer should be necessary. Before you plant, do a PH test of the soil. It should not be less than 6.5; 7.0 to 7.5 is better. Lavenders should never be mulched with wood mulch. Use one inch of coarse sand instead.

All lavenders are not equally forgiving of imperfect conditions and easy-to-grow. The best performers are the true species English lavender, Lavadula angustifolia (not the dwarf selections such as Munstead and Hidcote) and the French hybrids, called Lavandin, Lavandula intermedia. Provence is a particularly durable and easy-to-grow French hybrid.