Miri Talabac

A: Figs are a popular fruit to try growing in Maryland, but many cultivars are not well suited to our climate. If you have a mature plant that fruits some years and not others, when you haven't treated the plant any differently, then winter temperatures might be the c ...

Fig with only basal new growth after winter branch dieback. (Jon Traunfeld, HGIC)

A good candidate for color in winter is the humble pansy/viola. A plethora of cultivars exist these days, allowing you to customize just about any color palette or combo.

Give cucamelons or sour gherkins and mouse melons a try. The plant has a vining growth habit, using tendrils to grab hold of a trellis, tomato cage, or neighboring plants.

Leaving a material like wire, whether from lights or stake ties, wrapped around trunks will eventually stress and kill a tree once it gets too tight.

Q: I discovered a dead branch on my Japanese maple. Does it need to be removed, and if so, when and how?

Q: I am wondering how to dispose of a few mixed-evergreens holiday wreaths. Can they be composted? Click to share a free article with a friend

When a shrub that is normally multi-stemmed and rounded/mounding in its growth habit is staked, pruned, and trained into a tree-like form, having a trunk clear of lower branches, that special treat…

One factor to consider is how conducive the immediate area is to germination in general.

Winter-sown Wild Columbine seedlings. (Courtesy of Mikaela Boley/UME)