- Bill Carr
Answer: Spring is the optimum time to sow seeds of echinacea (coneflower). However, I have often had volunteer seedlings in my garden, obviously the result of self-sowing in late summer or early fall. So you might sow some seeds now and save some for spring as well. Those sown in late summer or early fall are unlikely to germinate till spring.

To save the seeds, pick the seed heads when they are brown and dry. Put in a paper bag and let them dry a few more days. Then mash the bag to loosen the seeds. Remove the chaff. (This is the tedious stage; I use a metal tray, hold it on a slight angle, and tap it a lot.) Put the seeds in a paper envelope; put the labeled envelope in an air-tight, zipper-style plastic bag; and put that in the refrigerator till sowing time in spring.

Coneflower is a great example of something not to be cut down in the fall cleanup. Many birds, goldfinches in particular, love the seeds. And voracious as they are, in their furious noshing they inevitably spill some seeds - which become volunteer seedlings the next spring.

Q: When do I prune and how much pruning is appropriate on a five-year-old fig tree - which is more like a bush at the moment? Can I grow more fig trees from cuttings?

- Cathryn Coate
A: You can be rather brutal with an established fig tree. But not now. Best is to prune in early spring - just when the first leaves are barely emerging. Since a really harsh winter could cause major dieback, the emerging leaves tell you what's alive and what's not (also, the shriveled nature of the dead stems is a good tip-off). You can also prune it when it drops its leaves at the end of autumn. Since an established fig will produce fruit even if it is killed to the ground by wicked cold, you can be as radical a pruner as you wish.

To get the best fig production, thin the bush first - so more light gets through - then cut back the remaining stems, leaving the center ones taller than the perimeter stems. By the way, a bushy appearance is typical; I've never seen a fruiting fig with a classic tree profile, even in my native south-central Texas, where they grow to prodigious size.

You can root fig cuttings in water. The best time is late spring or early summer. Take a cutting that has three nodes (the point where a leaf emerges from the stem). Remove the bottom leaf. Place in water up to the second node. When it has lots of roots, plant. Presuming this is done early enough in the season, the rooted cutting will have time to establish itself before winter. But who knows if the first winter is going to be wickedly cold? Therefore, to be on the safe side, plant the cutting in a pot and overwinter in a cold frame, cool basement, or a porch where the potting medium will not freeze solid. Water only to keep the medium from completely drying out.

- Michael Martin Mills