Question:  I have a black stemmed hydrangea that has only flowered once in the five years that I have had it. I try to protect it in the winter by covering it with leaves and burlap, but it usually dies back to the ground and then makes a vigorous recovery in the spring. I'm in a borderline zone 6 area but this plant is in an exposed area on the top of a hill that is hit by a lot of wind after the deciduous trees have lost their foliage. Do you have any suggestions? It's a lovely plant with mop head flowers that seem to appear only if some of the stems survive the winter. Thanks.

Answer:   Black-stemmed hydrangea forms its flower buds in August and September. Thus if the stems perish over the winter, the buds perish also. If possible, the hydrangea needs to be moved to a spot that is more protected from the winter winds, such as against the east wall of a building. Also try to improve your covering. Make the burlap around the sides 3 to 4 layers thick. Cover the plant well over the top with leaves, so that as they settle the hydrangea tips will not be exposed. Place several layers of evergreen branches over the top of the leaves to keep them from blowing away. Next year in later summer spray the plant with liquid Seaweed 3 or 4 times at two weeks intervals. This may, quite possibly, improve the cold tolerance of your hydrangea stems.

Question:  I have had a holly tree for several years that hasn't ever gotten berries. I understand that I must need another holly tree within a certain distance to get the berries. My tree gets flowers in the spring, so I'm thinking that it is a female. I have several questions pertaining to this. Do the male hollies get berries? Do cuttings from a female tree only produce female trees, and the same with cuttings from a female tree, and cuttings from a male tree only produce a male tree? With living in the woods, and not wanting anymore trees in my yard, would it work to plant a male tree in the woods as long as it's close enough? Lastly, I recently read your email about getting cuttings from hollies and about trimming them. My tree has gotten very large. If I remember right, you said they like to be trimmed. I've never done a thing to it. I kept saying I was going to cut it down because it never gets berries. If I work out getting it to berry, can I trim the heck out of it if I want?

Answer:  A holly tree is either male or female. Both the male and female have flowers, but the sexual organs that are within the flowers are slightly different. Only the female gets berries. A cutting from a female tree will produce a female tree and a cutting from a male tree will produce a male tree. 51% of all hollies grown from seed are males. There is usually enough male pollen in the air that a female tree will have at least a few berries. So I suspect you have a male tree, rather than as a female that has remained barren from lack of pollination. As you live nearby, next year if you bring the flowers into the store I can identify whether you have a male or a female and then you will know for sure. Holly trees can be cut back severely in the spring, but never in the fall.

Question:  I planted two Dahlia bulbs, one was last year and one was this year. The one from last year bloomed, but did not bloom again this season. The one I planted second bloomed, but only had two blooms and a lot of foliage. What can I put on these lovely plants to make them more prolific? I love these flowers in my garden. How often do I need to water them?

Question:  Alan, you recommended I store my Dahlias and Cannas in bushel baskets. I have been everywhere and I can't find any bushel baskets. What do you recommend?

Answer:  I recommend wooden bushel baskets because they "breathe," unlike plastic or even waxed cardboard boxes. I don't recommend cardboard boxes because they tend to deteriorate by the end of winter and when you lift them up the contents fall on the floor. Instead of bushel baskets you could use rectangular wooded crates or plastic laundry baskets, the kind with the big holes in the sides. You can line the laundry basket with newspaper to prevent the soil from seeping through the holes. One year, I had so many Dahlias I even used drawers from an old bureau we were getting ready to trash.

Question:  I am confused about when to make the last cutting of my lawn and how short it should be. Some people say the last cutting should be shorter than usual and others say it should be longer.

Answer:  The season, your location and the type of grass you are growing will determine when the last cutting should be. Basically the last cutting is after the grass stops growing. I find that most people stop cutting too early in the belief that the grass has stopped growing, when it has actually just slowed down, not stopped growing totally. To help prevent winter lawn funguses, such as snow mold, the last cutting should be shorter than usual. At home we usually cut between 3 1/2 - 4 inches; but the last cutting is 2 inches.