Pruning

Stars at Hood Hood College welcomes stargazers to its Frederick campus this spring. Each Wednesday evening through May 5, astronomy lecturer Ken Howard will answer guests' questions as they view stars and planets from the Williams Observatory's telescope. Visiting hours for this event are 8:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Hood College is at 401 Rosemont Ave., Frederick. Call 301-696-3679 or visit www. hood.edu. Tea from scratch Brew your own tea Saturday and Sunday at the Marshy Point Nature Center.

Growing roses can be an intimidating experience, especially for a new gardener. Roses are often regarded as fussy plants that need too much time and too many chemicals to keep them blemish free and full of beautiful blooms. That long-held notion is changing. An evolving new collection -- New Generation Roses by Jackson & Perkins -- makes it easier to enjoy almost-perfect roses. "They're bred to be simpler to grow," says Mike Cady, a horticulturist with Jackson & Perkins. The new roses grow on their own roots, not grafted onto the rootstock of other plants.

Several branches on my dogwood tree produced small, curled leaves last year, but the rest of the tree looked good. Should I prune those branches out, or wait to see if they improve next year? Dogwoods have a number of disease and insect problems. Diseases like powdery mildew and spot anthracnose affect the entire tree, while others often attack one branch at a time. The symptoms you describe are fairly common. I would guess that your branches have been attacked by dogwood borers or a canker disease.

State lawmakers plan to look into the tree-trimming practices of Maryland's utilities to see whether the companies are doing enough to prevent lengthy and widespread power outages during severe storms. In a first step in reviewing the utilities' response to Tropical Storm Isabel, which left more than a million Marylanderswithout power, two legislative panels heard testimony about the outages yesterday from the power companies, including Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and Potomac Electric Power Co. Members of the Senate Finance and House Economic Matters committees said they thought the utility crews had done a good job under the circumstances in restoring power in about eight days.

Tropical Storm Isabel damaged a number of trees in our yard. We cleaned up the fallen branches, but it looks like the trees need some pruning. How can we select a good tree company to do the work? The cleanup and repair of trees damaged by Isabel is keeping every tree company in the area busy. The best companies will likely have a long waiting list to get non-emergency work done. If you value your trees, it will be worth waiting for them to get to your work. I would select a tree service in much the same way I would select a new auto mechanic, plumber or other skilled tradesperson.

My lilacs have become overgrown and I would like to cut them back. How and when should I prune them? I would prune your lilacs very soon. They are best pruned in late spring or early summer right after flowering. With few exceptions, lilacs are coarsely branched and develop multiple stems from the base. These stems will grow for many years; however, they will begin to thin out over time and become less productive. To revive the plant, the oldest stems should be pruned several inches above the ground and removed.

Harold Evensky, one of the nation's best-known certified financial planners, thinks it is time to get real about what the stock market will provide to investors. "I haven't figured out why not a lot more discussion is taking place about this," he said. "The way almost everyone invests does not make sense." In what he said is the biggest overhaul in the past 20 years, Evensky has realigned his clients' portfolios to make the most of a market that, at best, won't be making much money for stock investors.

Afew years ago our son married and started spending the holidays with his wife's family (we get them for Thanksgiving), so my husband and I have found ourselves facing Dec. 25 as a twosome. However, our friends have learned that we have been orphaned and insist that we share Christmas dinner with them. This year, an invitation arrived, but with a new twist. We were asked to come help prepare the holiday meal with longtime friends. Nothing could have pleased me more for, though I enjoy being a guest on this day, I like cooking Christmas dinner even better.

I have considered planting some red twig dogwoods in my yard, but other plantings I have seen do not have consistent red stem color. Do some varieties have better color than others? There are two species of dogwood that may be referred to as red twig dogwood, Cornus sanguinea and Cornus sericea. Both plants will grow here; however, we are near the southern extreme of their optimum growing range. C. sanguinea is a European native that has a few good qualities but rarely has good red stem color.

V.C. Bailey of Columbia wrote briefly that she wanted a recipe for prune whip and hoped someone could provide it. Jane Vernarelli of Baltimore responded with a note. "My mother made this years ago for our family. I do not have her recipe but found one in The Fannie Farmer Cookbook which is similar. However, my mother served it chilled with a custard-sauce topping." Prune Whip Serves 4 1 cup pureed, dried prunes 1/4 cup sugar, plus more if needed 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/8 teaspoon salt 3 egg whites Preheat oven to 300 degrees.